BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana State University Speech and Debate Team earned national recognition at the Pi Kappa Delta National Championship Tournament, held this past week in Springfield, Missouri. Competing against top collegiate programs from across the country, LSU students secured multiple national championships, top speaker awards, and a top-10 team finish in individual events sweepstakes.
LSU’s performance was highlighted by three national titles. Senior Cade Savoy was named National Champion in After Dinner Speaking (ADS) and earned Top Superior in Communication Analysis (CA), in addition to placing third in overall individual sweepstakes. Senior Landon Terro won the national championship in Poetry Interpretation, was named co-national champion in Program Oral Interpretation (POI), and was awarded National Tournament Champion in Individual Sweepstakes. Senior Sam Theriot shared the POI national championship.
LSU students also earned numerous superior and excellent rankings across a range of events. Landon Terro received superior honors in extemporaneous commentary and prose interpretation, as well as excellence in interviewing. Cade Savoy earned superior distinctions in impromptu and extemporaneous speaking and excellence in informative speaking. Sam Theriot received excellence in impromptu and extemporaneous speaking and superior honors in broadcast journalism. Roan Guidry earned excellence awards in impromptu, prose interpretation, program oral interpretation, and broadcast journalism. TJ Jones received excellence awards in impromptu, after dinner speaking, and broadcast journalism.
In debate events, Cade Savoy was named third speaker in Lincoln-Douglas debate and advanced to the quarterfinal round. Landon placed fourth speaker in junior varsity IPDA debate and reached quarterfinals, while TJ Jones advanced to octafinals in open IPDA.
Additional honors included a Top Superior award in broadcast journalism (novice division) for Ella Coco.
As a team, LSU placed seventh in the nation in speech sweepstakes, reflecting the program’s depth and consistency across competitive categories.
“This performance reflects the talent, discipline, and intellectual rigor of our students,” said the team’s director Dr. Ashley Mack. “They represented LSU with excellence on a national stage, and we are proud of their achievements.”
The LSU Speech & Debate Team will continue its national competition season with three additional championship tournaments later this year.