HELENA – The Carroll College Talking Saints forensics team swept all of the top awards in debate and won 48 awards overall at the Mahaffey Speech and Debate Tournament held at Linfield University in McMinnville, Oregon, on November 15-17. Eighteen Carroll students brought home awards, including 10 first place plaques.
Nearly half of Carroll’s awards were won by the first-year students, but it was the debaters who stole the spotlight by sweeping first, second, and third in BP debate, and winning the top five speaker awards. Carroll students also swept the top three speaker awards in novice debate.
Junior Catherine Dudley of Pendleton, Indiana, won the Singletary Award given to the outstanding debater in the tournament. The tournament had to break a three-way first-place tie between three Carroll debaters before declaring Dudley the winner.
First year Aurora Salinas of Butte won the Brenda Marshall Award given to the best first year competitor at the Mahaffey. Salinas won five awards, including first in novice extemporaneous speaking.
“Catherine was in tears when her name was called,” said coach Brent Northup. “Her friends mobbed her and hugged her, delaying her trip up to the front to get her gold cup, a traveling award that goes back more than 50 years. Catherine is much-loved because she always puts others before herself. She had zero experience in speech and debate in high school but through hard work and an open acceptance of coaching she’s become one of our best.”
Dudley and her partner senior Charlie Said of Seattle won first place in debate. Finishing second were sophomores Davis Thompson of East Helena and Brad Tomasovic of Great Falls. Finishing third were seniors June LePage of Lewistown, Montana, and Spencer McDonald of Missoula. LePage and McDonald tied with Dudley for top speaker in the tournament.
The first-year team members won 20 awards with all seven newcomers receiving recognition. Leah Melvin of Kimberly, Idaho, Kate Wilkins of Salt Lake, Utah, and Aurora Salinas of Butte, Montana, each won five awards each, including four first place awards. First year competitor Kaylee Little, a junior from Boise, added a fifth first-place trophy by winning novice prose. First-year debaters Wilkins and Little reached the semifinals of open BP debate for the third time this year. Wilkins won first in junior impromptu and was named the top junior debater.
“The upper class had lots of success this weekend, but I think they were more thrilled to see their young teammates shine,” said Northup. “One of the seniors rushed over to tell me how happy she was that every one of the newcomers had at least one trophy to take home. And more than half of those frosh had no experience before college.”
Northup says he was particularly touched by two visits from opposing coaches as the tournament wound down.
“The tournament director sought me out to say that his hired judges were telling him how much they were enjoying judging our Carroll students,” said Northup. “And another coach told me that her students were impressed by all the love they saw between our team members, especially at awards when our kids were openly hugging and cheering for their friends so joyfully. I was smiling, too, when I watched them celebrate each other so unselfishly. I also saw a team member seek out a disappointed friend to support them. We don’t mind winning but what truly matters is the way our Saints take care of each other, especially during the stress of competition. May they carry that through their lives.”
The success at Linfield puts Carroll in contention for their 35th consecutive regional title, which will be awarded at the final regional championship tournament at Lower Columbia Community College in Longview, Washington, in January.