Two debate team members place nationally
Two members of the Central Michigan University Debate Team won the 2021 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament.
Wichita, Kansas freshman, Natalie Brant and Natchez, Mississippi junior Tyler Tobias met in the final elimination round and did not compete due to being from the same school.
In addition to winning their elimination rounds based on speaker points and ratings, Brant and Tobias earned top speaker awards, Brant as first speaker and Tobias as Second. Tobias was undefeated in the preliminary rounds and throughout the tournament.
This year the tournament was held virtually but that did not stop these champions from dominating their competition. According to the winners, there was a lack of camaraderie known to take place at debate competitions which was a noticeable difference between in-person and virtual competitions.
“Last year there were team meetings and practices, and it was a lot easier to be engaged when we’re with each other as opposed to being at home or in a classroom or wherever we might be," Tobias said. "There is definitely a deficit of having to keep yourself focused and having to be independent in that sense but I think we handled that pretty well.”
On the other side, Brant, who considers herself quite “argumentative” and started debate in high school out of spite that she was known to argue, noted that a struggle for her was making a comeback after losing her first two rounds. She said she had a hard time staying positive since set the goal to only lose one round.
“Getting out of that mindset that I was already losing was very hard to get out of, but luckily we did it and we pulled it off but it was very hard at first," Brant said.
Brant was able to turn the tide and won every following round.
Both Tobias and Brant described their win as “empowering." The two said they thank their coaches for putting “110” effort, and teammates for being supportive throughout their journey.
