The University of North Texas Speech and Debate Team kicked off the 2022-23 season collecting a series of win at various tournaments, including participants at Western Kentucky University Fall Tournament.

In the Lincoln-Douglas debate, Junior Zach Jones defeated last years top national ranked University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Nick Wallenburg in the final round to be crowned the tournament champion. Jones was also named the tournament's third best speaker, while senior Holden Bukowsky placed third in the semifinals and was named the tournament's fourth best speaker. UNT's John Sims finished in the quarterfinals (5th place) and was named the tournament's ninth speaker.

Jones and Bukowsky were also selected to compete in the Alexis Elliot Round Robin which is a tournament invite for the top 10 LD debaters in the nation. Jones was named the second-best speaker, and Bukowsky was named the fourth best speaker.

Jones commented that, "The win was incredibly exciting as it both showed me how far I've grown since my first college debate tournament last year and also served as a reminder of how far myself and the team can go if we really work for it."

In the speech events, the season began with an in-person competition at Texas State University with Junior Alaia Snell finishing second place in Extemporaneous Speaking. Senior Aaron Delgado competed and finished fifth in both Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking.

At Western Kentucky's speech opener Snell finished fourth in Extemporaneous Speaking, and at the MAFL speech opener, she finished fifth in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Snell starts the season with four different final round appearances in Extemporaneous Speaking. As co-president she noted, "UNT Speech and Debate is not just a team, but a community of scholars that I am proud to be a part of. Within two weeks, thanks to the support of the debate team and all of our members, I was able to attend four tournaments and place in the top 5 at each one. At all of these tournaments, I competed with individuals from schools across the country, including those in Oregon, Kentucky, Illinois, and Alabama."

So far, UNT Debate and Speech has already collected 10 trophies and a tournament championship title.

For more information on the UNT Debate Team, click here.