March 09, 2009
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University’s Forensic Team will begin defending its national titles in debate and speech tournaments later this month.
In 2008, WKU swept the major national and international speech and debate championships for the third consecutive year and for the fifth time in six years.
WKU team members will compete in the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence March 21-23 in Berkeley, Calif.; the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Debate Tournament March 27-30 in Stockton, Calif.; the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament April 3-6 in Akron, Ohio; and the National Forensic Association National Tournament April 16-20 in Springfield, Mo.
After a successful 2008-09 season, which included a 19th consecutive Kentucky Forensic Association championship, associate forensics director Jace Lux said the team is ready to defend its AFA and NFA titles.
The team, however, won’t be defending its International Forensic Association championship because of budget issues, he said. WKU had won nine of the past 10 IFA titles and swept the NFA, AFA and IFA titles in the 2002-03, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
“This year has been a struggle as we experienced a significant budget cut that impacted students’ travel expenses as well as our ability to provide research materials,” said Judy Woodring, forensic director. “We have been pretty resourceful so we'll see in April how it impacts us.”
National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence: WKU received an unprecedented five invitations for 10 team members to compete at the invitation-only, 64-team debate tournament March 21-23 at the University of California-Berkeley.
The WKU teams are: Jessica Furgerson (San Antonio, Texas) and Elizabeth Mullins (Plymouth, Mass.), ranked ninth in the nation; Brandon Merrell (Snohomish, Wash.) and Josh Ramsey (Fort Scott, Kan.), ranked 11th; Logan Parke (Little Rock, Ark.) and Thomas Schally (Stillwater, Minn.), ranked 12th; Brian Bloss (Coppell, Texas) and Kaleb Jessee (Garden City, Kan.), ranked 21st; Kelcy Hathaway (Garden City, Kan.) and Rachel Mosley (Lake Tahoe, Calif.), ranked 24th. (More information about the NPTE is available online at http://npte.debateaddict.com/)
National Parliamentary Debate Association National Tournament: The five WKU teams from the NPTE plus the nation’s 62nd-ranked debate team of Frank Murdock (Kingston, Wash.) and Sarah Spiker (Snohomish, Wash.) will compete March 27-30 at the University of Pacific in Stockton, Calif.
The six WKU teams will be among 225 teams from 73 colleges and universities. WKU won the NPDA national tournament in 2008. (More information about the NPDA is available online at http://www.parlidebate.org/)
American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament: WKU will defend its title April 3-6 at the University of Akron. WKU has won the AFA championship five times in the past six years. (More information is available online at http://www.mnsu.edu/spcomm/niet/niet.html)
National Forensic Association National Tournament: All WKU team members will compete April 16-20 at Drury University and Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. In 2008, WKU won its seventh NFA championship in debate and its fifth championship in individual events. (More information about the NFA is available online at http://cas.bethel.edu/dept/comm/nfa/index.html)
More information about the WKU Forensic Team is available online at http://www.wku.edu/forensics/
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu and at http://wkunews.wordpress.com/. 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.
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