SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The team of Heidi Tyler and Kaleb Schmidley captured a championship title in the Team International Public Debate Association format this past weekend at the Pi Kappa Delta National Speech and Debate Conference held at Missouri State University.
Tyler and Schmidley won a category that featured 50 pairs in the first year the TIPDA format has been offered at this national event that features a variety of formats and competitions.
The Pilot pair advanced to the knockout stage of eight teams and won three rounds in a row from there to claim the title.
“It was such a treat to watch these two debate in all of the rounds, and they executed really well as a team,” said LSUS Debate coach Lindsay Duede. “Kaleb is just 16 years old and will likely graduate at 17, so for him to win a national title on the way is extraordinary.
“Heidi had a great tournament individually and as part of the team. Everybody has come such a long way.”
Tyler reached the semifinals in the varsity division as an individual.
Those efforts led LSUS to a seventh-place team finish despite bringing only seven debaters on a team that pretty narrowly focuses on IPDA debate style.
The wide-ranging tournament featured 59 college teams, some of which fielded more debaters that competed in a broader range of styles and other similar competitions.
“We had debaters that were willing to try new things, like competing in categories like interviewing, extemporaneous speaking and impromptu speaking,” Duede said. “They were novices in these areas competing for the first time, but they put in the work with several being recognized in their categories.”
Lindsey Brown earned excellence recognition in both Interviewing and Extemporaneous Speaking to add to her fifth-place speaking champion honor in team debate.
Levi Grubbs walked away with an excellence recognition in Impromptu Speaking.
Competition on a national stage prepares LSUS debaters for the upcoming IDPA National Championship Tournament, which is April 10-13 at Middle Tennessee State University.
The 2025 LSUS bunch took home a Scholastic National Championship this past season, which measures LSUS’s performance in all undergraduate debate divisions.
LSUS won a total of six national titles at the 2025 tournament, three at the tournament itself and three for season-long performance.
Duede said this team has worked hard to put itself in a position to shine again on the national stage in its primary debate format.
“These students have worked specifically in areas like presenting evidence and monitoring time in their speeches, and they’ve made significant improvement since the beginning of the season,” Duede said. “But even more importantly, they had more fun at this last tournament than they have all season.
“They challenged themselves and proven themselves in different areas, and they are coming into the national championships motivated and refreshed. It’s easy to get tired in a season with nine or 10 tournaments, but we have a lot of life after this one.”
