Season 2025-26

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Rice Speech and Debate Wins 39 Awards so far in Spring 2026!

Rice Speech and Debate continues to represent Rice with its usual excellence across the nation. This semester, the team has competed at multiple events, expressing student voices through rhetoric and performance. The team has qualified numerous students for nationals, and hopes to qualify several more before starting the national run. Recent awards are listed below:

Mound High Swing, January 8-11, Lebanon, IL

Part 1:

• Nikki Stancik and Kyle Sanderfer: Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Karen Tang and Lawrence Jin: Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Rohan Gupta and Travis Johson: Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate

Part 2:

• Karen Tang and Lawrence Jin: Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Nikki Stancik and Kyle Sanderfer: Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Rohan Gupta and Travis Johson: Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Ridhi Dondeti and William Wang: Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate

Speaker Awards:

• Kyle Sanderfer: 7^th Overall Debate Speaker
• Nikki Stancik: 6^th Overall Debate Speaker

National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence first round bids announced:

At the awards for this tournament, the NPTE Board announced the first round of bids for the prestigious NPTE 2026 tournament. Rice qualified 4 teams for this prestigious event! The following Rice teams were announced:

• Nikki Stancik and Kyle Sanderfer, currently ranked #2 in the nation
• Rohan Gupta and Travis Johson, currently ranked #10 in the nation
• Karen Tang and Lawrence Jin, currently ranked #12 in the nation
• Ridhi Dondeti and William Wang, currently ranked #13 in the nation

These pairs will represent Rice at the NPTW in March!

Golden Gate Invitational, University of California, Berkeley

2nd Place Sweepstakes

• Nikki Stancik and Kyle Sanderfer: Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Karen Tang and Lawrence Jin: Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• William Wang and Travis Johnson: Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate

Speaker Awards:

• Kyle Sanderfer: Top Overall Debate Speaker
• Nikki Stancik: 3^rd Overall Debate Speaker
• William Wang: 10^th Overall Debate Speaker

Online Asynchronous Tournament Series 5, January 19-23

• Chloe Pesqueira: 3^rd Extemporaneous Speaking

Texas Intercollegiate Forensics Association State Tournament, January 6-8, San Marcos, TX

 

Sweepstakes: 2^nd Place

Part 1:

• Vedant Khadiya:
  • 1st Place Individual Sweepstakes
  • 1st Place Informative Speaking
  • 2nd Communication Analysis
  • 5th Impromptu Speaking
  • 6th Persuasive Speaking
• Reed Zimmerman: 5th Dramatic Interpretation
• Daijah Wilson: 4th Dramatic Interpretation

Part 2:

Sweepstakes: 5^th Place

• Daijah Wilson: 1^st Informative Speaking; 6^th Dramatic Interpretation
• Vedant Khadiya: 2^nd Communication Analysis
• Ola Oladipo: 3^rd Program Oral Interpretation
• Reed Zimmerman: 3^rd Dramatic Interpretation

Denison University BRM Debate Tournament, February 7-8, Virtual

• Rohan Gupta and Molly Wladis: Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate
• Karen Tang and Lawrence Jin: Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate

Speaker Awards:

• Karen Tang: Top Speaker
• Molly Wladis: 2^nd Overall Debate Speaker
• Rohan Gupta: 5^th Overall Debate Speaker

Rice will next compete in “The Texas Shuffle Swing” in San Antonio before entering “Nationals Season” in March and April.

Please join us in congratulating these academic competitors!

Rice Speech and Debate is coached by David Worth and Shannon LaBove.