National Champs! Historic Victory for Whitman’s Debate & Forensics Team
By Margie McDevitt Reece ’93
For the win! Whitman seniors, Alexa Grechishkin ’25 and Isabel Mathy ’25, brought a national championship home for the Blues.
Last month, Whitman College’s Debate and Forensics program marked an indisputable historic moment.
The senior team of Alexa Grechishkin ’25 and Isabel Mathy ’25 competed in the National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) National Tournament. The duo beat out Rice University, Concordia University and Parliamentary Debate at Berkeley—securing Whitman's first national parliamentary debate championship in the college’s history.
On Monday, March 10, at McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois, Grechishkin (English major, Hispanic Studies minor, from Mount Vernon, Washington) and Mathy (Politics major from Englewood, Colorado) took the final round on a 5-2 decision over the Berkeley team.
“This win was possible through the hard work and dedication of students, coaches and alumni,” says Baker Weilert-Pekar, Director of Debate and Forensics.
Weilert-Pekar leads the program with the assistance of Kiefer Storrer, Assistant Director of Debate & Forensics, and relies on other coaches, including Kyle Bligen and Gabe Graville, and Whitman alum Jas Liu ’24, who helped coach students at the NPDA championship.
Fast fact: Unlike NCAA athletics, college debate does not have divisions based on school size. At tournaments, Whitman competes against private universities and large state schools.
Among the Most Elite in the Country
Across the country, parliamentary debate teams compete all year to qualify for the prestigious National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE). This year, Whitman’s team honed their skills by competing in speech and debate at nine tournaments, traveling across the country to show off their skills against the best of the best.
At the end of the regular season, Whitman’s team of Grechishkin-Mathy ranked above all teams in the nation. As the top points earners on the year, the pair was awarded the Whitman Cup—a NPTE trophy that debuted last year when Whitman hosted the national tournament in Walla Walla.
Fast fact: It’s not just Whitman students leading in U.S. debate circles. Baker Weilert-Pekar, who directs Whitman’s program and grew up the child of debate coaches, also serves as the Tournament Director for the NPDA and the President of the NPTE.
Another pair of Whitties, Oliver Kaufman ’26 and Heather Romero ’27 earned their first bid to the NPTE, after finishing 21st in the national rankings. Kaufman is a junior English major from Eugene, Oregon, and Romero is a sophomore Physics-Astronomy major from Mexico.
Results at the highly competitive NPTE in mid-March included another championship for Mathy, who won the first place speaker award for the second year in row (the first back-to-back winner in tournament history). Grechishkin took second place in speaking, and as a debate team, the two seniors finished third overall.
Serving as Whitman coaches at NPTE, two alumni and former debate teammates—Heidi Adolphsen ’22 and Ilse Spiropolous ’22—brought their experience and mentorship to the cause.
Fast fact: Whitman Debate & Forensics is a comprehensive program—meaning the team competes in debate, as well as forensics (competitive speech and acting).
More victories and championships came in Mid-March when Whitman competed at the 2025 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. A sophomore team of Whitties—Grace Hardy ’27, from Coronado, California, and Finn Motz ’27, from Dallas, Texas—took second in the nation at that event and Whitman placed first overall as a team.
They Aren’t Done Yet!
To wrap up their season, Whitman will send its first-ever students to the American Forensics Association’s National Speech Tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 5–7. This qualifier-only competition requires students to place multiple times at tournaments to be eligible.
Grechishkin and Kaufman will represent Whitman at the tournament, along with Ana Dillard ’25 and Cedar Tatarek ’28.
Debate With the Best!
Whitman’s Debate and Forensics team provides more than just competition—it’s a community where students sharpen their ability to think critically, engage in meaningful discussions and have fun. Scholarships are available—learn more about joining the team.