Whitman Debate & Forensics Win at National Championships
By Baker Weilert-Pekar, Director of Debate & Forensics
Best of the best. Whitman’s Debate and Forensics team raked in the wins at the Pi Kappa Delta National Convention and Tournament. From left: Louis Stark ’27, Oliver Kaufman ’26, Elizabeth Lovett ’29, Ana Collins ’29, Grace Hardy ’27 and Valeri Garcia ’28.
For the second year in a row, Whitman Debate and Forensics has won a championship in National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) debate.
Oliver Kaufman ’26 (an English major from Eugene, Oregon) and Grace Hardy ’27 (an Ethics and Society and Rhetoric, Writing, and Public Discourse double major from Coronado, California) beat the University of California, San Diego, in the final round to become the 2026 NPDA National Champions at the Pi Kappa Delta National Convention and Tournament hosted by Missouri State University. Hardy also won Whitman’s first forensics national title—in Extemporaneous Speaking—since expansion of the program to include individual events in 2022.
Whitman’s team was led by Director of Debate and Forensics Baker Weilert-Pekar, Assistant Director of Debate Kiefer Storrer, judges Kyle Bligen and Gabe Graville, and Whitman alums Ana Dillard ’25 and Jas Liu ’24.
The team had several other notable finishes at the convention. Elizabeth Lovett ’29 (from Salina, Kansas) and Ana Collins ’29 (from Greeley, Colorado) made it to the Elite Eight in NPDA Debate, finishing in 10th and seventh place respectively. Louis Stark ’27 (an Economics-Mathematics major from Portland, Oregon) finished second in Junior Varsity Speaker. And Grace Hardy finished fifth in Broadcasting Journalism.
The Pi Kappa Delta National Convention featured 58 colleges and universities with 438 students competing in more than 2,200 individual events.
More Success on the Circuit
Earlier in the year, the Whitman Debate and Forensics team attended the 2026 NPDA National Tournament hosted by Mercer University. The team was represented by Nico Brenneman-Ochoa ’28 (a History major from Goshen, Indiana), Anissa Cherif ’28 (an Economics major from Coppell, Texas), Grace Hardy, Oliver Kaufman, Finnegan Motz ’27 (an Ethics and Society and Rhetoric, Writing, and Public Discourse double major from Dallas, Texas) and Cedar Tatarek ’28 (a Politics and Geology double major).
The team of Kaufman and Hardy advanced to the Final Four, where they narrowly lost to the national runners-up from Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley. The team of Cherif and Tatarek advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, finishing fifth and sixth in the nation, respectively. The program finished third in season-long sweepstakes.
A Season To Be Proud Of
Kaufman, Hardy and Tatarek finished out the season at the American Forensics Association National Speech Tournament hosted at Lewis & Clark College. All three qualified out of the Northwest Forensics Council region to be able to attend. It was the 12th tournament of the 2025–2026 season for Whitman Debate and Forensics and the culmination of hard work and dedication by 25 active team members.