GROVE CITY, Pa. – Seven Grove City College students recently competed at the National Speech and Debate Championship sponsored by Pi Kappa Delta, the national Forensics Honorary Society. They turned in their best performance of the year at their toughest tournament, finishing in the top 20 out of some 48 programs from around the country. 

Team captain Courtney Winther, a sophomore philosophy major from Modesto, Calif., made it to the semifinals in Extemporaneous Speaking, where she was the No. 2 seed after taking first place in all three qualifying rounds. She finished seventh out of 70 competitors. 

Sophomore Renae Smith, a political science/communication major from Sterling, Va., reached the final round in Persuasive Speaking, where she finished sixth out of 44 competitors. Teammate, Jamie Tucci, a junior biology/general sciences/secondary education major from Venango, Pa., also reached the final round in Persuasive Speaking. Tucci finished third, topping a year of competition in which she routinely won or placed in the top three in Persuasive Speaking. No other school had more than one competitor in the final round of Persuasive Speaking.

Tucci also excelled in Impromptu Speaking, where advanced to the semifinal round and finished eighth out of 103 competitors. Teammate Anna Cassell, a freshman communication major from Wantage, N.J., reached the quarterfinal round in Impromptu Speaking, ranking 20th of 103 entries in her category.

Additionally, Cassell excelled in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate. In the six qualifying rounds, Cassell went 5-1, beating the orator who later became grand champion and two who became semifinalists. She entered the quarterfinals as the No. 2 seed. Although she did not advance to semifinals, losing on a split decision, she finished the tournament as the fifth-highest rated Lincoln-Douglas debater and fourth among all Lincoln-Douglas debaters in speaker points.

The team was accompanied by advisers Dr. Michael Price, associate professor of English, and Dr. Steven Jones, assistant professor of sociology, on the trip to the Gatlinburg, Tenn., tournament.

This release is available for download at www.gcc.edu/news/releases/main. Media may contact Clingensmith for further details.

Grove City College is listed as one of the Most Competitive colleges in the nation by Barron’s. In its category, Grove City College is also ranked by U.S. News & World Report as No. 1 Best Value and No. 3 overall in the 2006 guide to America’s Best Colleges. Grove City College has also been called a “best value” and a “hidden treasure” by guidance counselors in the Kaplan National High School Guidance Counselor Survey, and is also the No. 16 Best Bargain school according to the Princeton Review. Founded in 1876, it is located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, Pa. With an enrollment of 2,300 students, it is a private Christian college teaching the liberal arts, sciences and engineering. It is an advocate of the free market economic system and accepts no federal funding. Tuition is about half of the national average for private colleges.