March 21, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University’s forensic team made history last weekend by being the first school to receive five bids to the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence.
More than 1,000 teams competed for bids to the 2007 NPTE event, held March 17-18 in Laramie, Wyo. WKU qualified five teams for the event with three teams ranked in the top five in the nation.
WKU also became the first school to break all of its teams into the elimination rounds of the tournament.
After 10 rounds of competition, the team of Thomas Schally and Joelle Perry, ranked No. 2 in the nation, was undefeated and the top seed at the tournament. However, they lost in the semifinals on a questionable technicality ruling.
The five teams along with the remainder of WKU’s debate squad will compete this weekend in their second national tournament. The National Parliamentary Debate Association tournament will be held March 22-25 at Colorado Springs, Colo.
Individual results from the NPTE are as follows:
Lauren Nelson, a sophomore from Wheaton, Ill., third in parliamentary debate (with Chad Meadows), fifth debate speaker.
Joelle Perry, a senior from Florence, third debate speaker, fifth in parliamentary debate (with Thomas Schally).
Chad Meadows, a junior from Owensboro, third in parliamentary debate (with Lauren Nelson).
Thomas Schally, a junior from Stillwater, Minn., fifth in parliamentary debate (with Joelle Perry), seventh debate speaker.
Keyon Shokraie, a senior from Somis, Calif., sixth debate speaker, 20th in parliamentary debate (with Kasey Gardner).
Kasey Gardner, a senior from Simi Valley, Calif., 20th in parliamentary debate (with Keyon Shokraie), 19th debate speaker.
Rachel Mosley, a sophomore from Lake Tahoe, Calif., 23rd in parliamentary debate (with Joseph Allen).
Joseph Allen, a sophomore from Boise, Idaho, 23rd in parliamentary debate (with Rachel Mosley).
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Judy Woodring at (270) 745-6340.
-WKU-
"A leading American university with international reach"
Office of Media Relations
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, Ky. 42101-3576
Phone: (270)745-4295 - Fax: (270)7455387 - E-Mail: western@wku.edu