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Speaking Bearcats in Top 10 at Nationals

Prater, Kirksey earn All-American honors

Breanna PraterBOLIVAR, Mo. – The ±«Óătv Speaking Bearcats placed 10th in individual events sweepstakes, 11th overall in debate and speech sweepstakes and had two competitors earn All-American honors at the 2021 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament on March 18-21.

±«Óătv’s Breanna Prater and Evan Kirksey were named All-Americans by Pi Kappa Delta, which awards All-American status to 10 competitors every two years.

“There is an extensive nomination process that PKD All-Americans go through,” said Dr. David Bailey, the director of forensics at ±«Óătv. “They assemble statistics from their competitive careers, several letters of recommendation from their coaches and others in the forensics community. 

“An All-American award is a wonderful accomplishment that reflects the hard work, citizenship and community involvement a competitor has had throughout their career. We were extremely proud to learn that Bre and Evan were among this year’s class of PKD All-Americans.”

Evan KirkseyThe Speaking Bearcats, which competed against 79 other colleges and universities over four days of grueling online competition, won an impressive array of awards.

  • Breanna Prater won 10th place in International Public Debate Association (IPDA) debate speaker awards, and was an octofinalist (top 16) in the event. Prater also was a semifinalist in extemporaneous commentary and won an excellent award (top 30 percent) in extemporaneous speaking.
  • Evan Kirksey won a superior award (top 10 percent) in interviewing. He was a quarterfinalist in persuasion, a semifinalist in informative, and won an excellent award in impromptu speaking. 
  • Kadie Thomas won a semifinalist award in impromptu speaking. 
  • Mariah Barber won quarterfinalist awards in both poetry interpretation and program of oral interpretation. 
  • Jessica Paxton finished the tournament as a quarterfinalist in poetry interpretation. 
  • Samantha Baldus also won a quarterfinalist award in poetry.

The 2021 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament was the team’s final competition for the 2020-2021 season. For more information about the team, please contact Dr. Bailey at dbailey@±«Óătvniv.edu. 

*Published: 3-30-2021