WKU News

WKU Forensics hosted the Alexis Elliott Memorial Round Robin and Spring Classic Feb. 22-23. Debate team members include: (back row, from left) Chad Meadows (Director of Debate), Sage Carter, Evan Grisham (Graduate Assistant), Rae Fournier, Tanya Prabhakar (Graduate Assistant); (middle row, from left) Chase Shockley, Kole Ingram, Antonina Clementi, Ameya Puranik; (front row from left) Joshua St. Peter, Nik Schintgen, JaKayla Brown.

WKU Forensics swept the championship rounds at the Alexis Elliott Memorial Round Robin and Spring Classic hosted by Western Kentucky University February 21-23. 

The Alexis Elliott Memorial Round Robin is an annual selective invite-only debate competition featuring the most competitive students from the season. This year’s field featured 10 students from WKU, Florida State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Truman State University, Kansas City Kansas Community College, Texas State University, the University of North Texas, and Lewis and Clark College.

Junior Rae Fournier of Woodbridge, Virginia, and sophomore Sage Carter of Salina, Kansas, closed out the final round of the event, both winning seven out of eight ballots to finish first in their respective competition groups. Fournier finished as the Danny Ray Top Speaker and Carter finished second.

Juniors Ameya Puranik of Mountain House, California, and Kole Ingram of Hindman, Kentucky, also closed out the Rising Stars Challenge, an event hosted simultaneously with the Round Robin for top students in their first two years of competitive college debate. Ingram finished as the second speaker.

At the Spring Classic tournament, an invitational open to all students, WKU advanced seven students to the Top 9, three to the top 4, and closed out the final round.  Senior Antonina Clementi of Lafayette, Louisiana, took one of the Top 2 spots alongside Fournier. Fournier was awarded the top speaker of the Classic tournament.

WKU was not eligible for a sweepstakes award as the host of the event. 

The team now gears up for its nationals season. 

Results from the tournament are as follows:

• WKU Spring Speaker Awards: Rae Fournier, 1st; Antonina Clementi, 3rd; Nik Schintgen of Lansing, Kansas, 4th; Sage Carter, 5th; Joshua St-Peter of Canton, Georgia, 6th; Chase Shockley of Carthage, Missouri, 7th.
• WKU Varsity: Rae Fournier, Co-Champion; Antonina Clementi, Co-Champion; Sage Carter, Top 4; Joshua St-Peter, Top 8; Chase Shockley, Top 8; Nik Schintgen, Top 8; JaKayla Brown of Kansas City, Kansas, Top 9.
• WKU Novice Speaker Awards: Oli Wood-Morris of Chatham, Illinois, 5th.
• WKU Novice: Oli Wood-Morris, 2nd.

More: Check out the WKU Forensics Facebook page or follow @wkuforensics  and @DebateWku on X/Twitter.

Contact: Ganer Newman, (270) 745-6340.          

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.