UT Tyler Debaters Finish Season Among Nation’s Best

March 26, 2020

UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications

Team Places 2nd at National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence

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March 26, 2020

Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Senior Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.566.7303

The University of Texas at Tyler has announced that members of the debate team outperformed collegiate teams from across the U.S. to place second at the 2020 National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE).

Sophomores Mason Remaley of Paris, Texas, and Ayush Kumar of Varanasi, India, made it to the tournament’s final round, where they competed against The University of California, Berkeley. The UT Tyler team finished second in a narrow three-to-four decision by judges.

“I am incredibly proud of our students’ performance in such a prestigious tournament,’’ said Joseph Provencher, UT Tyler director of forensics and head debate coach. “They have put in countless hours, met every demand I made of them and forwarded a Herculean effort in their attempts to compete with the absolute best of the best.’’

Kumar, Remaley and the UT Tyler team of Melodie Lamborn and Skyler Walker were two of only 28 teams in the nation to earn enough points in the debate season to qualify for the tournament, held this year in Lebanon, Illinois. UT Tyler competes in a field of more than 250 collegiate teams, as a member of the NPTE and the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA).

The University also participated in the NPDA National Championship, with Lamborn and Walker finishing among the top 16 teams. Lamborn is a junior from Canon City, Colorado. Walker is a junior from Athens, Texas.

“Melodie Lamborn and Skylar Walker survived the grueling first two days of competition, including fierce elimination out-rounds, to beat a variety of teams from across the country,’’ Provencher said. “I could not be prouder of their growth and achievement this year.’’

Graduate teaching assistant Mackenzie Marquess of Van, Texas, assisted in coaching the team this season.

A member of the prestigious UT System, The University of Texas at Tyler focuses on student success and innovative research in the more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered to nearly 10,000 students. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News and World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.