Weber State Debate

 Weber State Senior and Team Captain, Stacy Dawson (Philosophy), and Junior Emma Lou Rees Sociology), have qualified for the 64^th Annual National Debate Tournament by posting a record of 5 wins and only 1 loss at the District II National Debate Tournament Qualifier held at Weber State University (2.27-2.28).  The very best teams were in attendance, and Dawson and Rees defeated the top seeded Gonzaga University in order to qualify.  Stacy Dawson was also the 4^th best speaker at the qualifying tournament and was named to the all conference team.

Qualifying to the 78-team National Debate Tournament is a very difficult feat.  Only the top 8% of the nation’s debate teams are invited.  Stacy Dawson is the first woman in WSU Debate’s 88 year history to qualify four times.  Statistically speaking, she defied the odds as expressed this way:  “8 % of 8% of 8% of 8% of ALL debaters in the nation qualify for the National Debate Tournament 4 times.”  Keep in mind that in the WSU Debate's  88 year history, 87% of all the nation's attendees of the NDT have been male.   In fact, Weber State University will be the only program in the country being represented by a team with two women debating together in attendance at this year’s National Debate.

The 64^th Annual National Debate Tournament will be held at the University of California-Berkeley (3.19-3.22).  The very best teams will be there: University of Southern California, Harvard, Emory, Wake Forest, etc.  We are hoping that Stacy and Emma will have a very, very good tournament.

This coming weekend, the team will compete at the regional championship for the novice and junior varsity squad.  WSU Debate will be taking a bus of 24 competitors (12 teams) and 8 coaching staff members to participate in the “Novice & Junior Varsity Championship” at Sacramento State.

Weber State Debate has had an exciting Spring semester.  At the California State University, Fullerton tournament (1.22-1.25),  Ashley Jensen and Shay Baker won the novice division, defeating the University of Southern California in the final round on a 3-0 decision.  In the junior varsity division, Ian Dalton and Lindsey Horton took first place by defeating Pepperdine University.  And in the varsity division, Stacy Dawson and Emmalou Reese narrowly lost a 2-1 decision to Columbia University to take 5th place.  WSU Debate alos demonstrated its strong speaking skills, as five students received top 10 speaker awards in their respective divisions. 

At the University of Texas debates (2.6-2.9), senior, Stacy Dawson and, Junior, Emmalou Reese had a strong tournament with wins against the top teams from UNLV and Emporia State University.  Stacy Dawson was ranked 72nd best speaker out of more than 320 participants. 

Weber State Debate is looking forward to hosting the District II Northwest Rockies National Debate Tournament Qualifyier (2.27-2.28), as well as preparing to host the Cross Examination Debate Association Executive Council Meeting (6.2-6.6)

 2009-2010 has been a landmark season in Weber State Debate history, with 39 students, all debating under the banner of Weber State.  After huge showings in the fall, Weber State plans to attend the California State University-Fullerton Winter Tournament (1.23-1.25.10) with 16 students, as well as Sacramento State with a record-breaking 26 students competing for glory and victory at the Western States Novice and Junior Varsity Championship (3.5-3.7.10). WSU Debate is seeing more students, from a variety of majors, who are attracted by the opportunity to put their critical thinking skills to work, discussing the political issues of the day and learning the art of argumentation.

In addition to Weber State debate’s growing success in its novice and junior varsity divisions, the varsity members of the team topped the spring semester with a breakout appearance at the University of North Texas Tournament (1.4-1.6.10).  Senior, Stacy Dawson, and Junior, Emmalou Rees, debated their way to a winning preliminary round record of 4-3 and earned their way into elimination rounds with high speaker points as 23rd seed.  Unfortunately, Stacy and Emma were defeated by 10th seeded Liberty University (Lynchburgh, VA) on a narrow 2-1 decision.

Weber State Debate is also looking forward to showcasing Ogden and the newly renovated campus at the end of February for the District II National Debate Tournament "Northwest Rockies" Qualifying Tournament (2.27-2.28.10), and then again, in June for the Cross Examination Debate Association’s Executive Council Meeting.  The Executive Council Meeting will bring together the national association’s best professionals from across the country for a week to Ogden to hold business and subcommittee meetings, as well as decide the resolution for the upcoming academic year.

 
For more information about WSU Debate, please email Oguevara@weber.edu.

The Weber State University rookie and novice debaters had a great weekend in Los Angeles at the California State University-Northridge Tournament this past weekend (11.20-11.22).  With eight teams (16 students!) in attendance, WSU Debate had competitive teams in all three divisions of competition (novice, junior varsity, and varsity).  In the novice division, WSU Debate had two teams post 4-2 records in order to qualify for elimination rounds.  Unfortunately the two teams (Follet/King , Corbridge/Guthrie) were narrowly defeated in the quarterfinal round by CSU-Fullerton and the University of Southern California respectively.

Two other WSU novice teams went 3-3 (Hurley/Jensen, Johnson/Stevenson).   In addition, Dustin Follet was named 2^nd speaker and Ashley Jensen was named 10^th speaker.

In the junior varsity division, Jerry Rinke was named 6^th best speaker.  Congrats Jerry!

WSU Debate wishes everyone a safe and happy Holiday season!

Senior and team Captain Stacy Dawson, and her freshman partner Derrick Nikolopoulos posted a 5-1 preliminary record at the James Rupp Invitation at Idaho State University this past weekend, October 17-18^th, 2009. Stacy and Derrick defeated very good debate teams from The University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Whitman College, and Gonzaga University.  Stacy Dawson was named 2^nd speaker in the varsity division of the tournament.  In quarterfinals, Stacy and Derrick were defeated by Whitman College.

In the junior varsity division (JV), Lindsey Horton was named 8^th speaker!  In addition, Ashley Jensen and Shay Hurley, a novice team, defeated a junior varsity team from the University of Wyoming. Unfortunately, two addition JV teams were forced to stay home because they were ill with H1N1.

Upcoming tournaments include Whitman College (11.13-11.16), California State University-Northridge (11.20-11.22) and Wake Forest University (11.20-11.23).

WSU Debaters Stacy Dawson (Senior, Philosophy) and Derrick Nikolopoulos (Freshperson, Political Science) defeated the top debate teams from The University of Texas-Austin and The University of Central Oklahoma to qualify for elimination rounds at the Vegas invitation held at the U.N.L.V. on October 2-5.  Seeded 19^th, they defeated the 14^th seeded University of Central Oklahoma in double-octafinals to proceed to octafinals.  In octafinals Dawson & Nikolopoulos lost a close 2-1 decision to 3^rd seeded Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington).   

WSU Debate competes next at the James Rupp invitational in Pocatello Idaho, October 16-19.  For more information about WSU Debate, please email oguevara@hotmail.com .

Weber State Debate announces the departure of Richard Tews (Assistant Director of Forensics, ADOF,since 2004) as he moves on to the University of Northern Iowa as the Director of Debate there.  Omar Guevara, Director of Forensics, had this to say of Tews's time in the organization, ""Richard has a deep intuitive understanding of this simple concept that seems to elude so many 'smart people' in our community: 'You can't CHASE success, you have to BUILD it.' I never had to sell him on the virtue of patience; if anything, he reminded me of it."  Guevara went on to say "I will miss you Rich. Because of your contributions, you are leaving WSU Debate stronger than when you found it: organizationally more sound, politically more astute, financially more stable, and perhaps most importantly, more humane...and just. Thank you for helping restore WSU Debate's reputation, and Weber State's faith in intercollegiate debate." 

John Foy, the former argument coach, has been named as the ADOF for the 2009-2010 season.  The ADOF is a historied position that has existed at Weber State and housed in the Department of Communication for over 20 years. The ADOF is not only responsible for team administration, argument coaching, tournament judging, strategizing, scouting and recruiting on behalf of the debate team, but the ADOF is also a full faculty member of the department, teaching classes, advising students, participating in department and university service.  Balancing all these demands can be quite the feat.

This year, Foy has already directed the 2nd Annual Leland Monson Debate Institute and Tournament and is currently co-directing the In-house Summer Workshop for the debate team in anticipation for the team's first tournament in September.  He brings over 15 years of experience as a competitor, coach and director in intercollegiate debate, as well as a masters degree from the University of Wyoming in Communication and a deep commitment to Weber State. For more information on John Foy's career, see his bio under the Coaching Staff link

The redistricting process moved programs and consolidated the West from three to two districts. The new District II, named the Northwest Rocky Mountain District, that Weber State now belongs to includes:  Denver University, Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, Idaho State University, University of Puget Sound, Weber State University, Whitman College and the University of Wyoming.  The merger has created a stronger powerhouse district that will prove to be fiercely competitive.

 The first order of business for the newly merged district was to elect a chair.  Weber State's Director of Forensics, Omar Guevara was elected to the position. Guevara's duties during his two year term as District Chair include acting as the voting representative for the district in the national organization, leading and finalizing decision making on procedures for the district, and ranking at large bids for the National Debate Tournament. During District II discussions, it was also decided that Weber State will be the host site for the National Qualifying Tournament held at the end of February.

The week of August 3rd-8th, Weber State Debate hosted the Leland Monson Debate Institute and Tournament.  The program is targeted at high school debaters and provides a week's worth of instruction, totaling 45 hours of on-site instruction with distinguished faculty, lunch provided every day of the program, a debate tournament open to all participants with coordinated bus transportation to the Weber State campus, and a Weber State gift bag for all tournament participants.

 It is with the gracious support of the Keystone Foundation that Weber State Debate can subsidize the program from its own budgets.  This year, students simply paid a $55 registration fee, which is an amazing deal for the community, especially when compared to other debate institutes that charge hundreds or thousands of dollars per week of instruction.

 Omar Guevara, Director of Forensics, extends his thanks to the Keystone Foundation for their support, Bingham High School for providing the institute site, as well as the faculty which includes:  Michael Shackelford, Rowland Hall St. Mark's (policy), Joshua Bentley, Lone Peak High School (policy), Moses Baca, Juan Diego High School (lincoln douglas) & Carol Shackelford, Bingham High School (coach's workshop). Also worthy of mention are Weber State's own, Stacy Dawson (class of 2010) and Ian Dalton (class of 2013) who worked as assistants in policy debate, as well as Mason Gates and Robert Grange of Juan Diego High School who worked as Lincoln Douglas debate assistants.

This year's Leland Monson Debate Institute and Tournament saw dramatic increases in enrollment and student interest, with more than double the participants at the tournament hosted on the Weber State campus.  The directors of the event could not have been any happier with the results.  This year once again demonstrated what Weber State Debate and its high school partners' concerted efforts could create for the community.  Weber State Debate looks forward to hosting the 3rd Leland Monson Debate Institute and Tournament again next summer.