University of the Pacific ranked 6^th in Nation!

 

In what has been a LONG road to the end of the season, Pacific Speech & Debate has been rewarded for its efforts!!  This last weekend (March 23 – 28, 2006), PSDS attended the national Parliamentary Debate Association’s National Tournament.  The national tournament features debaters from all over the country and some foreign countries as well.  At the end of the tournament, year-long debate rankings are also announced.  After a correction where some of Pacific’s points were creditied to Pacific University (OR), Pacific was awarded SIXTH PLACE in the nation!!!  Out of 406 schools nationwide, Pacific is sixth as an entire squad.  This means that Pacific beat out such schools as UC Berkeley, UCLA, the US Air Force Academy, and many others.

            At the tournament, Pacific debaters did well, missing the elimination rounds by only one ballot.  This earned us 27^th place out of 90+ schools.  An incredible achievement considering there were over 500 debaters in attendance.  This is Pacific’s best finish at the tournament in many years and it is Pacific’s best finish EVER in season long sweepstakes.

Next Event

            The next event (and last tournament for the season) is the AFA-NIET at the University of Florida.  The American Forensics Association (AFA) holds the National Individual Events Tournament (NIET) every year.  This tournament is by invitation only and all students must qualify EACH speech they compete with through a very rigorous process.  In the twenty-eight years the tournament has been held, Pacific has had two national champions, one in persuasive speaking and the other in informative speaking.  This tournament is generally regarded as the most difficult individual event tournament in the country.  Pacific qualified seven students and seventeen events this year.  Please join me in congratulating all of Pacific’s Speech and Debate team:

Jacki Evans, Branigan Robertson, Jeff Toney, Kat Bruce, Phil Krueger, Steve Farias, Raman Deol, Sandeep Vishwa, & Ben Dunphy.  They are all outstanding competitors and students.

Pacific Takes FIRST at AFA-NIET District I Qualifier & THIRD in California

This weekend, Pacific Speech & Debate traveled to Chico, CA for the American Forensics Association (AFA) District One National Qualifying Tournament.  In addition, Pacific attended a Districts Warm-Up tournament on Friday (also in Chico).  Pacific did an OUTSTANDING job this weekend.  After all the results were tallied Pacific Speech and Debate took First at the tournament!  In addition, it was announced that Pacific had tied for 3^rd in THE DISTRICT (California, Nevada, & Hawaii) for the entire year!  This is a result of Pacific having qualified SIX students and Seventeen events for the AFA-NIET at the end of this month in Gainesville, Florida. 

 

Not only did Pacific do a great job as a team, but also Jacki Evans was named as the 7^th Best Speaker in the District based on the year-long competition!  Here are the individual results:

 

At the Warm-Up Tournament

Poetry Interp

Jacki Evans      2^nd place

Jeff Toney       4^th place

 

Impromptu Speaking

Phillip Krueger            2^nd place

Kathleen Bruce            4^th place

 

Extemporaneous Speaking

Once Again it was an ALL PACIFIC Final round.  This is the SECOND tournament in a row where Pacific has beaten all other competitors out of the final round.

Jeff Toney                   1^st Place

Kat Bruce                    2^nd Place

Raman Deol                3^rd Place

Phillip Krueger            4^th place

Steve Farias                 5^th Place

 

Duo Interpretation

Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney             5^th Place

 

At the District Qualifier Tournament:

School Tournament Sweepstakes

University of the Pacific          1^st Place

 

District-Wide Year-Long Sweepstakes

University of the Pacific          3^rd Place (tie with San Francisco State)

 

Impromptu Speaking

Phil Krueger    1^st Place

Kat Bruce        2^nd Place

Steve Farias     3^rd Place

 

Extemporaneous Speaking

Phil Krueger    2^nd Place

Raman Deol    3^rd Place

Steve Farias     4^th Place

 

Poetry Interpretation

Jacki Evans      3^rd Place

Jeff Toney       5^th Place

 

Persuasive Speaking

Jacki Evans      3^rd Place

 

Duo Interpretation

Kat Bruce & Jeff Toney          3^rd Place

 

What does this all mean?

There are two ways to qualify for the AFA-NIET (National Individual Events Tournament):  “At-Large” or “Districts.”  An “at-large” qualification requires that a student finish with a cumulative ranking of 8 or less in no more than three tournaments for EACH event he/she wants to qualify for the national tournament.  For example,

John has a persuasive speech.  He places 1st at one tournament, 2^nd at another and then 3^rd at a third tournament.  This means he has a cumulative ranking of 6 (1+2+3) and, therefore, his persuasive speech qualifies to go to nationals.  However, a student that placed 3^rd, 3^rd, and 3^rd would have a cume of 9 and NOT qualify for the tournament.  As you can see, this makes it very difficult to qualify any event at large.

To qualify an event at “districts,” a student must finish in no less than the top 10% of the event’s entry.  This is called getting a bid and is also very difficult since every competitor who has not yet qualified attends the district tournament from every school in California, Hawaii, and Nevada! 

The following are the students and events that Pacific has qualified for the AFA-NIET.  An “A” after the event means the student qualified it “at-large” and a “B” means he/she received a bid at Districts.

Jacki Evans (6 events)

Communication Analysis (A)

Extemporaneous Speaking (A)

Impromptu (A)

Poetry Interpretation (A)

Duo Interpretation (A)

Persuasive Speaking (B)

 

Jeff Toney (4 events)

Extemporaneous Speaking (A)

Impromptu Speaking (A)

Poetry Interpretation (B)

Duo Interpretation (B)

 

Kathleen Bruce (3 events)

Extemporaneous Speaking (A)

Duo Interpretation (B)

Impromptu Speaking (B)

 

Raman Deol (2 Events)

Impromptu Speaking (A)

Extemporaneous Speaking (B)

 

Phillip Krueger (2 Events)

Impromptu Speaking (A)

Extemporaneous Speaking (B)

 

Steve Farias

Impromptu Speaking (B)

 

Branigan Robertson

Duo Interpretation (A)

Pacific takes First at Western States!

This weekend, the Pacific Speech and Debate squad traveled to the Western States Communication Association’s Championship tournament.  Doing what they do best, Pacific Speech Team members did outstandingly well!  Pacific took First in Overall debate sweepstakes, FIRST in Individual Events sweepstakes, and First in 4 year sweepstakes!

In Individual Events:

Open Poetry:  

1^St        Jeff Toney

Extemporaneous Speaking:

Pacific DOMINATED this event!  Not only did Pacific make up the ENTIRE final round, but we also had the top Junior competitor!

 

Open Extemp:

1^st.       Jacki Evans

2^nd       Kathleen Bruce

3^rd        Jeff Toney

4^th        Phillip Krueger

5^th        Raman Deol

6^th        Steve Farias

 

Junior Extemp

1^st        Ben Dunphy

Impromptu

2^nd       Raman Deol

4^th        Jeff Toney

5^th        Steve Farias

6^th        Kathleen Bruc

Duo Interpretation

2^nd Place          Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson

4^th place           Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney

In Parliamentary Debate

Once again, Pacific shows that it can do both debate and individual speeches well. 

Team Results

2^nd Place                      Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson

Semi-Finalists             Phillip Krueger & Steven Farias

Quarter-Finalists         Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney

Quarter-Finalists         Raman Deol & Sandeep Vishwa

NPTE RANKINGS:

The following are the rankings of Pacific Debate Teams as of 2/19/06 (does not include above results; all figures are out of 1017 teams nationwide)

12^th in the nation         Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney

30^th in the nation         Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson

210^th in the nation       Raman Deol & Sandeep Vishwa

211^th in the nation       Phillip Krueger & Steven Farias

Debate Speaker Award results:

1^st Place (out of 45 speakers)  Jacki Evans

4^th Place                                   Branigan Robertson

5^th Place                                   Steve Farias

6^th Place                                   Phillip Krueger

7^th Place                                   Jeff Toney

9^th Place                                   Kathleen Bruce

 

Next Events:

Pacific entertains the Japanese National Debaters from February 21 – 24^t and then has a Global Debate on United Nations Gender Representation in the Bechtel Center on February 28 at Noon.  We then travel to the AFA-NIET district qualifier in Chico, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            This past weekend, Pacific Speech and Debate did an outstanding job!  The Northern California Forensics Association Championship tournament was held at City College of San Francisco and, despite some last minute rule changes, Pacific students showed what they were made of.

            The rule change was that brackets were not “broken” in elimination rounds of debate.  This meant that when a Pacific debate team hit another Pacific team, the coached was forced to choose one team to advance to the next round.  Normally, brackets are “broken,” or shifted, to allow normal debates to occur.  In other words, if the 1^st seed and the 16^th seeded team were from the same school, the bracket would be changed to allow the 16^th seed to debate the 2^nd seed.  However, despite this, Pacific did GREAT!

            In debate

            ALL four Pacific debate teams advance to the octo-final round.

            Raman Deol and Sandeep Vishwa were placed opposite a Pacific team so they automatically became Octofinalists

            In the Quarter final round

            Phillip Krueger and Steve Farias were placed opposite a Pacific team so they automatically became Quarter-finalists

            In the Semi-Final round

            Jacki Evans and Branigan Robertson were placed opposite a Pacific team so they automatically became Semi-Finalists

            In the final round, Kathleen Bruce and Jeff Toney decided to debate a case that NCFA should be required to break brackets and on a 3-0 decision there won the tournament and took First Place!!

 

            In debate speaker awards

            Third Place (out of 76 speakers)        Kathleen Bruce

            5^th Place                                               Jeff Toney

            10^th Place                                             Jacki Evans

 

            In Individual Events,

            In Novice Extemp, Ben Dunphy was a finalist in only his second time doing the event!!

            In Open Extemp, Pacific had 4 out of the 5 competitors in Finals!

            First Place       Jacki Evans

            Second Place   Jeff Toney

            Fourth Place    Raman Deol

            Fifth Place       Kathleen Bruce

 

            In Open Impromptu

            Second Place   Jacki Evans

            Fourth Place    Steve Farias (his first final round in Open!!)

 

Our next event is the Western States Communication Association championships in Ontario, CA.  After that, Pacific will host two debaters from Japan!

On February 2, 2006, the Pacific Speech and Debate Society traveled to the Pt. Loma Nazarene / Southwestern College Swing Weekend.  This swing is one of, if not the, largest forensic tournaments outside of National Championships.  Held in San Diego, California, it is often referred to as “Bloodbath By the Beach,” because it is so difficult to advance to elimination rounds.

There were seventy schools in attendance, with over 500 debaters!  Pacific did well.  We finished a very respectable 14^th out of all schools in attendance.  Again, all Pacific team members contributed to its success.

In Debate, Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson competed on Friday at the Pt. Loma Tournament of Champions.  The debated against 19 other teams from across the country that were all (including Pacific) hand selected by a national committee of debate coaches.  This marks the first year that Pacific has had a team in the Round Robin.

Also, at the Sunset Cliffs classic, Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney, Sandeep Vishwa and Raman Deol, & Steve Farias and Phillip Krueger all amassed sweepstakes points for the squad with their preliminary round records.

 

In Individual Events, the team really shone.

 

At the Southwestern tournament, Jeff Toney placed Second in Impromptu speaking and fourth in Extemporaneous Speaking.

 

At the Suncest Cliffs Classic at Pt. Loma,

 

Jacki Evans placed second in Extemporaneous Speaking, while Kathleen Bruce and Phillip Krueger were semi-finalists.

 

Jacki also placed second in Impromptu speaking and Jeff Toney was a semi-finalist.

 

Branigan Robertson and Jacki Evans placed sixth in Duo Interpretation.

 

Jacki Evans was also placed 4^th in Individual sweepstakes, meaning that out of all of the individual events competitors, she amassed the 4^th highest amount of points for her team.

 

 

On January 27, Pacific Speech and Debate travelled to Pleasant Hill (CA) for the Kevin Twohy Invitational.  Out of 22 schools including San Francisco State, UC Davis, and other schools from the West Coast, Pacific finished First Overall.

 

In addition to being First in terms of our entire squad, Kathleen Bruce and Jeffrey Toney won the entire debate portion of the tournament!! Kat & Jeff won every round except ONE the entire tournament!  We definitely dominated in terms of competition!  What was also nice is that each and every member of the team contributed to our overall win!  In fact Phillip Krueger & Steve Farias AND Raman Deol & Sandeep Vishwa advanced to elimination rounds at their first tournament together!  Here is how they did it:

 

Debate

Team Standings

Fist Place!!          Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney

Quarter-Finalists Raman Deol & Sandeep Vishwa

Octofinalists        Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson

Octofinalists        Phillip Krueger & Steve Farias

 

Debate Top Speaker Awards

FIRST PLACE (Out of 70+ speakers)        Jacki Evans

Third Place         (Out of 70+ speakers)        Branigan Robertson

Sixth Place         (Out of 70+ speakers)        Kathleen Bruce

Eighth Place       (Out of 70+ speakers)        Phillip Krueger

Ninth Place         (Out of 70+ speakers)        Jeff Toney

14^th Place           (Out of 70+ speakers)        Raman Deol

17^th Place           (Out of 70+ speakers)        Steve Farias

18^th Place           (Out of 70+ speakers)        Sandeep Vishwa

 

This marks the first time, in recent years, that A) All Pacific Debate teams have all advanced at the same tournament and b) ALL debaters have been in the top twenty speakers of the tournament!

 

Individual Events

 

Pacific SWEPT Impromptu Speaking

First            Jeff Toney  (Jeff also received $50.00 for this placing)

Second     Jacki Evans

Third:         Phillip Krueger

 

Duo Interpretation

Fourth        Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson

 

Extemporaneous Speaking

First            Jeff Toney

Fourth        Kathleen Bruce

 

Poetry Interpretation

Fifth            Jacki Evans

 

Next Event

Our next tournament is this Thursday (2/2) to Monday (2/6/06) at Pt. Loma Nazarene University and Southwestern College in San, Diego!!

 

Well, it may not be historically accurate, but nonetheless, the Irish ARE coming to Pacific! 

 

We have been selected as only one of five schools NATIONWIDE to Host the Irish National Debate Champions!

 

Every year, the Irish Times hosts a national debate tournament in Ireland.  The top three winners are selected to go on a nationwide tour of the United States.  American Schools must then competitively bid for the honor of hosting these debaters.

 

This is a HUGE event!  We have an outstanding opportunity and this needs to be

published/publicized/screamed to high heavens!!  We will have a busy next couple of months, but in the end, Pacific students will be the benefactors!

 

In the coming weeks, Pacific will be the honored host for Chinese Debate teams and the Irish National Champions.  We also have a bid in to host the Japanese National Champions!  Stay tuned to http://psds.pitas.com/ for details!

 

The schools selected to host were:

 

University of the Pacific, Stockton, California

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark.

University of Utah, Salt Lake, Utah

University of Miami, Miami, Florida

Century College, near Minneapolis

 

The Chinese debaters and their coaches will arrive March 21st and will stay until March 24th when we will drive them, with Pacific's team, to the National Parliamentary debate tournament in Portland, Oregon.

 

After the tournament ends, we will pick up the three Irish National Champions and drive them to campus, where they will stay until March 30th.

 

International Programs and Services' Chanda Kroll and David Schmidt have already co-ordinated with the team to help host both teams and we have some great events planned for them.  If you have ANY questions about these twop great events, please contact Dr. Marlin Bates at mbates@pacific.edu OR 209-946-3049

            Starting on Thursday of last week, Pacific Speech and Debate was quite busy!  First, the team traveled to the University’s Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco.  There Kathleen Bruce, Jacki Evans, Branigan Robertson, and Jeffrey Toney debated in front of the Regents, the President, the Vice-President, and the Provost.  The resolution was “As concerns environmental treaties, China should be treated as a developed country.”  We hope all in attendance were quite pleased with the presentation and we certainly want to thank them for their very generous comments.

At 11 pm that night, the Pacific Speech and Debate team traveled to Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska.  In fact, we did not get to Nebraska until 9:30 am!  Then, without any sleep but what we got on the plane, we drove to Seward from Lincoln.  There, with over two dozen schools and over 80 competitors, Pacific competed in all individual and debate events.  Actually, there were two tournaments that weekend, so Pacific did everything twice!  After all was said and done, Pacific placed fourth and were well above even the next smallest school (they had 10 students and did not even place!).

Here are the results:

Individual Events, Sleet Invitational 1/20-1/21

Duo:    Kat Bruce & Jeff Toney         3^rd place (this gives them a leg to AFA)

Extemp:           Kathleen Bruce           5^th Place

Impromptu:    Jacki Evans                 2^nd Place (This gives her a leg to AFA)

Poetry             Jacki Evans                 5^th place

Parliamentary Debate, Sleet Invitational 1/20-1/21

Quarter-Finalist          Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney 3-3 Record

Quarter-Finalist          Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson     5-1 Record

20^th Speaker (out of 70)          Kathleen Bruce

14^th Speaker (out of 70)          Branigan Robertson

3^rd Speaker (out of 70)            Jeffrey Toney

1^st Speaker (out of 70)            Jacki Evans

It is important to note that this marks the first time that we have had four debaters in the Top Twenty Speakers!!  Also, Jacki took first speaker with a score of 179 out of a possible 180.  This is almost impossible to achieve!  The teams did not rest on their laurels, however.  They were right back at it the next day

         Parliamentary Debate, Sun Invitational, 1/22/06

Quarter-Finalist          Kathleen Bruce & Jeff Toney 3-1 Record

Quarter-Finalist          Jacki Evans & Branigan Robertson     3-1 Record

19^th Speaker (out of 72)          Kathleen Bruce

17^th Speaker (out of 72)          Branigan Robertson

14th Speaker (out of 72)         Jacki Evans

8th Speaker (out of 72)           Jeffrey Toney

Once again, proving that our success is anything but a fluke, we had four debaters in the top 20 and in quarter-final rounds. 

         Next Event

On January 24, Kathleen Bruce, Jeffrey Toney, Phillip Krueger, and Braigan Robertson will debate the reolution “This House Believes That the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is morally justified.”  The debate is part of International Programs and Services Global Debate Series.  It will be held in the Bechtel Center at 12 Noon.

           

On January 27, the team will travel to pleasant Hill for the Kevin Twohy Invitational.  The entire squad is going and we hope to do well.

           

 

            On January 3, 2006, four members of University of the Pacific’s debate team, Chanda Kroll, IPS’ own International Student Counselor, and Director of Forensics, Dr. Marlin Bates, traveled to Xi’an, China for the first National Parliamentary Debate and International Debate Education Association tournament ever held in China.  After a thirteen-hour plane ride to Beijing, our group sped through customs and hoped a 90-minute plane ride to Xi’an on Air China.  We then were driven for two hours from the airport to our hotel on the gorgeous campus of Xi’an International Studies University.  The local time was midnight and our intrepid group had been in transit for TWENTY hours!  But, it was all worth it! 

            A scant seven hours later, we awoke to a wonderful breakfast of a mixture of western and Chinese dishes.  We then boarded a bus to see the Terra Cotta warriors.  They were an amazing sight and something we are not soon to forget.  We wished we could stay and explore them all in incredible detail, but we had to get back for the opening banquet of the tournament.  At the banquet, we got to meet students from over a dozen countries and many more universities and colleges.  Once again, we got to taste a wonderful variety of the local cuisine.

            After delicious food and wonderful conversation, we got ready for the next day.  It came too soon.  At 7:30 am, we poured ourselves onto buses to go to the incredible new campus for XISU.  Although all of the debates were conducted in English, no team was at a disadvantage.  In fact, Pacific debaters competed in a format different from what they normally do.  The format is used for worldwide competition and features two teams on each side of the resolution for a total of four teams per round.  All of the resolutions focused on the environment of China, the United States, and the world.  At the end of the round, each team is ranked one through four.  The lower the ranking, the better the team has done.  Pacific debaters were doing an outstanding job ranking first or second in all but one of their rounds.  While the teams were debating, Dr. Bates was judging rounds.  It was not an easy task as all of the teams were very, very skilled in both argumentation and presentation.  Additionally, Pacific was called on to instruct the international coaches in how American coaches make their decisions in a competitive round.

            During all of this flurry of competition, Chanda Kroll was meeting and letting many new Chinese students and International debaters know about the wonders of Pacific.  She talked to potential students, transfer students, and graduate students all interested in attending Pacific.  She did this for the entire time the tournament was going on.  This meant that she answered questions from 8 am until 8 pm for three nights!  Not only did she help Pacific make many new friends, but she also did it in freezing cold!!  The new campus was still in the process of being completed so there was no heat in the hallways (and very little in the classrooms)!  That meant that the temperature in the hallway was usually about –2 degrees Celsius!!  The rooms were about a toasty 5 degrees C!

            At the end of the second day of competition, we had met numerous people and we found out that Pacific had earned the right for both of its teams to compete in the quarterfinal rounds of the tournament.  This meant that Kathleen Bruce, Jeff Toney, Branigan Robertson, and Jacki Evans were in the top twenty-five percent of over fifty teams in competition.  After one more round of competition, both teams had made it into the semi-final rounds!!  It was back to the hotel for dinner and some rest.  Now, dinner was not provided by the tournament, so it was completely on us to go out and find some food.  Finding the food was not the problem—there are plenty of great restaurants in Xi’an—the problem was figuring out how to ORDER the food!  Of the six of us, only Dr. bates spoke Chinese, but he could not READ Chinese.  This made ordering from a menu quite difficult.  Occasionally, we found a restaurant that had a menu in English, but more often than not, we had to use what we called the “point and eat” method of ordering.  This meant we would find a restaurant where the food looked good and we would point at the dishes other people were eating.  We would then proceed to order enough for all of us.  It was a little non-traditional, but we sure ate well!  Not only was it delicious, but it was also very inexpensive.  I heartily recommend you visit and try it all out.

            The third day of the tournament saw Pacific competing in Semi-Finals.  After a very close decision, Kathleen & Jeff were eliminated from the competition, meaning they tied for fifth place in the entire international tournament!  Not bad!  Pacific was still going strong, though.  Jacki & Branigan were able to advance to the final round.  After a very spirited debate on whether the United States was more harmful to the environment than China, the final tally was in and Pacific took first!!  Jacki and Branigan were the first international debate champions in China!  Also, out of over one hundred and twenty debaters, Branigan was the Seventh best speaker and Jeff was the Sixth best speaker overall!!  The even was covered by China Daily and videotaped for television!  After an amazing day, all six of us went down the Muslim Street shopping district in Xi’an and had a wonderful time shopping and had a wonderful dinner!

            At 5 am the next morning, we boarded a bus for the airport and took off for Beijing.  After an initial mix-up in transportation (as in no one was there to get us!), we got to the hotel and got out to see the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and the Temple of Heaven and Earth.  After a whirlwind tour of Beijing, we went to the Silk Market and did a little more shopping.  We then found out that Jeff and Jacki were expert hagglers as they got incredible deals!  We were incredibly tired, but we got another great dinner and got some sleep to prepare for the next day.

            We got up early and drove out to The Great Wall.  This was AMAZING.  We climbed and climbed and climbed.  A little way from the top, Dr. Bates, Kat, & Jeff admitted that they could go no higher.  Chanda, Branigan, and Jacki, however, were undaunted!  They continued all the way to the top.  Jacki & Branigan even came down the other side!  We then visited Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace of the Emperor, and some wonderful jade and cloisonné factories.  Boy, were we tired, but it was all so fascinating.  We made our way back to the hotel and had one of the best meals ever for dinner.  As we relaxed that evening, we were sad to realize that we would be heading back to the States in the morning.

            It seems as if we had just gotten there when we boarded the plane back to San Francisco, but each and everyone of us knew that we had experienced that once-in-a-lifetime trip.  We made new friends and found out things about ourselves that we never knew existed.  This little story seems to hardly do it justice.  All I can say is that if you ever have a chance to go abroad: do it, perhaps you will meet some of the friends we met in China!

Pacific Hosts Largest Tournament This Semester!

 

This weekend, University of the Pacific hosted the largest tournament in the country this semester.  Thirty-five schools from around the country were here.  Over 100 debate teams competed all weekend long.  In the end, Pacific was once again seen as a great source for debate.  Now, since Pacific was hosting the tournament, we would not award ourselves a sweepstakes trophy, but we would have placed sixth out of 35 schools!  Not too bad at all! 

 

In addition, President DeRosa and Provost Gilbertson were present at times during the weekend and were able to see outstanding debate.

 

Here is how it all settled out.

 

At the Pat Kennedy Round Robin, Jacki Evans was named Second Speaker out of all competitiors at this very exclusive tournament.  Additionally, Jacki Evans and Branigan Robertson made it to the 4th Elimination Round which gave them a tie for fourth.  Not bad, considering these were among the best teams in the nation.

 

At the Mustang Invitational at Delta College, Individual Events were the only thing happening:

 

In Extemporaneous Speaking, Raman Deol took 3rd place!  Also breaking to Semi-finals, were Jeff Toney and Phil Krueger.

 

In Prose Interpretation, Ariana Grova placed 4th in Novice division. 

In Persuasive Speaking, Steve Farias placed 4th in Novice division. 

 

In Informative Speaking, Phillip Krueger placed 3rd in Novice division.

 

In Impromptu, Phillip Krueger, Raman Deol, Greg Linden, and Maxwell Sumner all advanced to the Semi-Final rounds.

 

At the Paul Winters Invitational, we had both debate and individual events going on:

 

In debate, the teams of Jeff Toney/Kathleen Bruce & Jacki Evans/Branigan Robertson broke to the Double-Octofinal round (this means that they were in the top 50% of the field), but failed to advance on split-decisions.

 

In Individual Events, Raman Deol and Jeff Toney broke to both the Semi-finals and the final round of Impromptu.  Jeff placed fourth and Raman took first place out of over 55 competitors!!

 

In extemporaneous speaking, Jacki Evans and Jeff Toney broke to the semi-final round.  Jacki advanced to the final round and placed fifth out of almost sixty competitors.

 

In Communication Analysis, Jacki Evans took first place!  This event is now qualified for the AFA-NIET nationals in Florida!

 

In Duo Interpretation, the teams of Jacki Evans/Branigan Robertson and Kathleen Bruce/Jeff Toney made it to the final round.  Jeff & Kat placed fifth and Jacki and Branigan placed 2nd!  This qualifies this event to the AFA-NIET nationals in Florida!

 

Their coaches, Dr. Marlin Bates, Emily LopezPadilla and CJ Claus are ecstatic over how well Pacific is doing.

 

PSDS is well on its way!  Our next event is the first debate tournament in China ever!  Dr. Bates, Jacki, Branigan, Jeff, & Kat are all headed to University of Xi'an in Xi'an China directed by the International Debate Education Association (IDEA). 

 

If you would like more information about Pacific Speech and Debate please feel free to contact Dr. Bates at mbates@pacific.edu, 209-946-3049, or 925-518-6799.

 

Pacific Speech and Debate Takes FIRST Overall!

 

This weekend the Pacific Speech and Debate Society traveled to UC Berkeley to compete in the Golden Gate Invitational.  The Golden Gate Invitational is one of the most competitive tournaments during the year and featured over twenty schools from fifteen states!  The best of the best were here and Pacific took FIRST in Overall Sweepstakes above every other school there!  In order to reach this great place, Pacific took FIRST in Individual Events Sweepstakes and Third in Debate Sweepstakes.  Pacific could only do this because we have competed at the toughest national tournaments all semester long!  The team really functioned as a unit with every member learning from the past and doing very well individually.  Here is how it all went down:

 

In Parliamentary Debate

 

Finishing in Quarter-Finals was the team of Jacki Evans and Branigan Robertson.  After 8 preliminary rounds, Jacki and Branigan were 6-2 and bested over FIFTY other debate teams!  Finishing in Octo-Finals was the team of Kathleen Bruce and Jeff Toney.  After 8 preliminary rounds, Kat and Jeff were also 6-2 and bested over forty debate teams!  Just out of final rounds was the team of Phillip Krueger and Maxwell Sumner.  After 8 preliminary rounds, Phil and Max were 4-4.

 

In the Individual Speaker rankings, Branigan Robertson was 19^th, Jacki Evans was 13^th, and Jeff Toney was 12^th out of over ONE HUNDRED AND TEN debaters!  All three teams earn points towards the national rankings!

 

In Individual Events:

 

Pacific was a powerhouse in IEs!

 

In Duo Interpretation, Jacki Evans and Branigan Robertson took first place!  This qualifies them for the AFA-NIET national tournament in Florida in April!

 

In Communication Analysis, Jacki Evans took First.  This also qualifies Jacki for nationals in this event!

 

In After-Dinner Speaking, Greg Linden took second place!  This is Greg’s first of three legs for AFA-NIET nationals!

 

In Impromptu Speaking, Pacific dominated!  Phillip Krueger placed 6^th, Maxwell Sumner placed 4^th, and Jacki Evans took 1^st with perfect scores in final rounds!

 

In Extemporaneous Speaking, Kathleen Bruce placed 6^th, Jacki Evans placed 4^th, and Jeff Toney placed 2^nd!

 

Also helping Pacific to this outstanding finish was Ariana Grova in Prose Interpretation, Raman Deol in Impromptu, Extemp and Debate, Steve Farias in Impromptu and Debate, and Charlene Kidwell in Impromptu and Extemp.

 

Assistant Coaches Emily Lopez-Padilla and Cj Claus were very happy with the results as was Director of Forenscis, Dr. Marlin Bates.  Dr. Bates stated that “This just goes to show what dedication the students have to this activity as well as how competitive our tournament schedule has been!”

 

Pacific's next event is a public debate in conjunction with the School of International Studies to discuss the topic "This House should forgive the debt of developing nations"  This event will be held on Wednesday, November 16, 2005, at 12 noon.  It will be held in the main lounge of the Bechtel Center.

 

Pacific's next tournament will be HERE at Pacific on November 11-13, 2005.  The Top Twenty Programs in the country will be competing, with an estimated FORTY schools from around the country in attendance.

 

If you have any questions about or would like to join the Pacific Speech and Debate Society, please contact, Dr. Marlin Bates, Director of Forensics, 209-946-3049 or mbates@pacific.edu

 

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Monday, October 24, 2005
Pacific Takes Third at Azusa Pacific!
This weekend the Pacific Speech and Debate Team traveled to Azusa Pacific University to compete in two tournaments in one weekend! Friday and Saturday featured a tournament hosted by Azusa Pacific and Sunday consisted of a one-day tournament hosted by Modesto Junior College. Forty schools competed across the three days and Pacific took third OVERALL FOR THE ENTIRE SWING as well as taking third in debate sweepstakes! Pacific bested such schools as UCLA, UC Berkeley, Loyola, and many others.

At the Pirates Invitational hosted by Modesto Junior College:

In Parliamentary Debate: The Novice Division team of Greg Linden and Scott Ruygrok did exceptionally well! This debate team made it through four final rounds and finished in FIRST PLACE out of 44 teams! Congratulations! The brand new Novice team of Ariana Grova and Joyce Huh did VERY well in their first debate tournament ever!

In Open Division, out of 88 Senior Debaters Jeff Toney placed FIRST OVERALL! An outstanding accomplishment! Kathleen Bruce finished 6th, Branigan Robertson placed 15th and Jacki Evans placed 23rd. The Open Division teams of Jacki Evans/Branigan Robertson and Jeff Toney/Kathleen Toney broke to the Octofinal round and then advanced to the Quarter-Final round! Open debaters Phillip Krueger/Maxwell Sumner missed advancing to the Octofinal round by one win. All teams will accrue points in the national rankings.

At the Cougar Classic hosted by Azusa Pacific:

In Parliamentary Debate: The Novice Division team of Greg Linden and Scott Ruygrok did exceptionally well! This debate team made it through four final rounds and finished in FIRST PLACE out of 44 teams! Congratulations! AGAIN!

In Open Division, out of 88 Senior Debaters, Jacki Evans placed placed 14th! An outstanding accomplishment! The Open Division team of Jacki Evans/Branigan Robertson broke to the Octofinal round! Open debaters Phillip Krueger/Maxwell Sumner and Kathleen Bruce/Jeff Toney missed advancing to the Octofinal round by one win. All teams will accrue points in the national rankings.

In Individual Events: In Open Extemporaneous Speaking, Kathleen Bruce placed Fifth out of fifty-two competitors! Additionally, Jacki Evans and Jeff Toney broke to the semi-final round, placing in the top 10% of their field!

In Open Impromptu Speaking, Branigan Robertson advanced to the Semi-Final round.

In Novice Extemporaneous Speaking, Steven Farias placed Fifth out of fifty-six contestants.

In Novice Impromptu Speaking, Scott Ruygrok and Steve Farias advanced to the semi-final round. Greg Linden advanced to the Final round and placed Fourth out of over SEVENTY-FIVE competitors!

Pacific’s next event is it’s annual high school tournament that will feature over thirty schools from around the West.

The next PSDS tournament will be at University of California at Berkeley.

Monday, October 10, 2005
PSDS Members do Well in Portland!
This weekend fourteen Pacific Speech and Debate members traveled to Portland, Oregon to attend the Lewis & Clark Pioneer Invitational! Everyone got to experience national-caliber competition and individuals did very well!

In Parliamentary Debate:

The Junior Division team of Raman Deol & Steve Farias did exceptionally well! This debate team advanced to the Quarter-Final round and finished in the top 25% of their field. Also, Steve placed fourth while Raman placed third out of ALL debaters in their division! Congratulations!

In Open Division, out of 132 Senior Debaters, Maxwell Sumner placed 14th! An outstanding accomplishment! The Open Division teams of Phillip Krueger/Maxwell Sumner, Jacki Evans/Branigan Robertson, and Kathleen Bruce/Jeff Toney all missed advancing to the Double-Octofinal round by one win. All teams had a 3-3 record and will accrue points in the national rankings.

In Individual Events:

Raman Deol won the Junior Division of Impromptu, beating all other competitors in this event! Raman also was a finalist in Junior Extemp.

In her first college tournament, Beth Stoll placed third in Novice Dramatic Interpretation, Steve Farias also did very well in Novice Impromptu by placing 5th.

Greg Linden placed 4th in Novice Extemporaneous speaking. This is Greg’s first tournament. We are lucky to have Greg as he is a student who normally attends Tulane University in Louisiana, but came to Pacific for this semester because of the Katrina Hurricane.

In Open Division, Jacki Evans placed second with her Communication Analysis on the Burning Man phenomenon. Jacki & Branigan Robertson also placed second in Duo Interpretation. Both awards earn the students “legs” to the AFA National Tournament in Florida next semester.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Pacific has a GREAT start at Top of the Rockies
This past weekend University of the Pacific's Speech and Debate team traveled to what was billed as "the largest season opening tournament in the country." Called "Top of the Rockies," the tournament was located at the University of Wyoming and featured competition from over thirty schools. The best programs in the country such as Rice University (TX), Regis, Texas Tech University, the United States Air Force Academy, and many more schools brought teams.

After the dust had settled, Pacific finished fifth overall! What is even more spectacular is that Pacific did this with only eight students! Many other programs had 20 or more students and Pacific still finished ahead of them!

Contributing to this outstanding win were the following individuals:

In Parliamentary Debate:

Raman Deol & Steve Farias, in their first tournament together, placed in the top sixteen of 40 teams in the Junior Division, with a preliminary record of 5-2.
Not only did they debate well as a team, but also individually. Steve was ranked seventh out of all 80 debaters in the junior division and Raman was ranked third overall!

Not to be outdone by Steve & Raman, Open division competitors Kathleen Bruce and Jeff Toney were in the top twenty teams in open division and received a Double-Octafinalist award.

Also doing extremely well in a very competitive national meet were Maxwell Sumner and Phillip Krueger. This was their first time in the open division and they narrowly missed the Double OctaFinal round.

Pacific also displayed their excellence in Individual Speech Events:

Jacki Evans placed Second out of the entire tournament in Communication Analysis, Second in Persuasive Speaking, and Third in a Duo Interpretation entitled "The Problem" with Branigan Robertson.

Kathleen Bruce placed Fifth in Persuasive Speaking and Seventh in a Duo Interpretation with Jeff Toney.

Jeff Toney also reached the semi-finals of Impromptu Speaking.

Their coach, Dr. Marlin Bates, was extremely pleased with the results as were Assistant Coaches C. J. Claus and Emily Lopez-Padilla.

Next Event

Pacific's next event is a public debate in conjunction with the School of International Studies to discuss the topic "Can the Assassination of a dictator be justified?" This event will be held on Wednesday, September 21, 2005, at 12 noon. It will be held in the main lounge of the Bechtel Center.

Next Tourney

Pacific's next tournament will be at Lewis and Clark College on October 6-9, 2005 in Portland, Oregon.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Pacific to host Round Robin / Swing in Fall '05
On November 11-13, 2005, Pacific Speech and Debate Society is moving to a national level as it hosts a Parliamentary Debate Round Robin & Swing Speech Tournament in conjunction with Konrad Hack of Azusa Pacific University and Anna Johnson of San Joaquin Delta College. At this point, a number of large national programs are committed to attending! This will be an excellent opportunity to see California and compete at a national level! A link to the invitations is connected with this entry! See you in November!