Three members of the Lafayette Debate Team, Zoe Staum ‘14, Justin Horn ‘15, and Ryan Monahan ’15, travelled to Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. this past weekend for the first tournament of the year. Western Kentucky University is the reigning national champion in NFA-LD Debate.

Zoe and Ryan competed in the invitation-only Alumni Round Robin tournament on Friday. The Round Robin pitted 8 of the best returning debaters in the country against each other, separated into two pods of four debaters. After three preliminary rounds, both teammates advanced as the second best debater in their respective pods. Zoe and Ryan both won their semifinal round and this guaranteed an all-Lafayette final round in the first invitation-only round robin held since 2006. The final round was an exhibition in front of an audience of competitors, coaches and judges.

The following day, all three members of the team competed in the two-day Western Kentucky Fall Fiesta. Zoe, Justin and Ryan competed in preliminary rounds on Saturday. On Sunday morning, the elimination rounds began with quarterfinals. Ryan advanced through to the semifinals on a 3-0 decision against a debater from Marshall University. In the semifinals, Ryan defeated a debater from Hillsdale College, also on a 3-0 decision, securing a spot in the final round of the tournament against Western Kentucky debater Emma Collins. Ryan won the final round on a 3-0 decision, capping a successful weekend with a second championship.
The debate team will now prepare for their next tournament to be held at Lafayette on October 5th-6th.

The Lafayette College Debate Team travels to and competes in regional and national competitions over the course of the academic year. The team debates with a year-long topic. This year the topic is, Resolved: that the United States Federal Government should substantially reform elementary and/or secondary education in the United States.

Full Results:
Zoe Staum – 2nd Place in the Alumni Round Robin and 2nd Place Speaker in the Alumni Round Robin
Ryan Monahan – 1st Place in the Alumni Round Robin, 3rd Place Speaker in the Alumni Round Robin, 1st Place in the Western Kentucky Fiesta, and 4th Place Speaker at the Western Kentucky Fiesta

The Lafayette Forensics Society travelled to West Chester University this weekend for the 2012-2013 Pennsylvania Forensics Association state tournament.

Six students travelled to the tournament and all six contributed to a strong effort that saw the team finish in third place.

Senior Angela Wnek led the way by continuing her strong season with final round appearances in ALL FIVE of her events: After Dinner Speaking, Persuasion, Impromptu, Poetry Interpretation and Prose Interpretation. Sophomore Sharon Chen was named state champion in Rhetorical Criticism and also made the final in Informative Speaking. Sophomore Ryan Raesly was crowned state champion in Extemporaneous Speaking and made the final round in Impromptu as well. Finally, first-year competitor Luke Wasacz was named state champion in Prose Interpretation in his first ever trip to the state tournament! First-year Cassidy Reller and sophomore Daniela Filip also received awards in Extemporaneous and Rhetorical Criticism respectively.

Despite such a small group of students, the team still managed to finish in third place behind champions West Chester University and St. Joseph’s University.

The tournament is an important step in Lafayette Forensics Society’s preparation for the upcoming National Tournament. The debate team travels to Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio on March 2nd. Cassidy Reller and Luke Wasacz now must prepare for the Novice National Tournament at Berry College in early March.

Full Results:

Angela Wnek – 4th place After Dinner Speaking, 4th place Persuasion, 6th place Impromptu, 3rd place Poetry, 2nd place Prose, 6th in Pentathalon
Sharon Chen – 1st place Rhetorical Criticism, 5th place Informative
Ryan Raesly – 1st place Extemporaneous Speaking, 4th place Impromptu
Luke Wasacz – 1st place Prose Interpretation
Cassidy Reller – 2nd place Extemporaneous Speaking
Daniela Filip – 7th place Rhetorical Criticism
Lafayette Forensics Society – 3rd place Team Sweepstakes

EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a communications typo, the team previously announced that it had won four state championships, when in fact we only won three.  Sharon Chen did not win Informative, she finished fifth.  Three or four championships, the team still had an excellent weekend and is poised for greater success as the season continues!

This weekend the Lafayette Forensics Society divided and conquered with Ryan Monahan and Joshua Geesey attending The North East Regional Tournament at Suffolk University and the rest of the team attending The Pennsylvania State Tournament hosted by Cedar Crest College.

At the Pennsylvania State Tournament in Allentown team grabbed three state championship titles, three state finalist medals and one entry into the prestigious Interstate Oratorical Competition. The combined efforts of the attendees won the team the fourth place title in overall team sweeps.  Veteran competitor Angela Wnek claimed three individual state championships. Wnek is now the Pennsylvania State Champion in Dramatic Interpretation, Poetry and Persuasion.  Her win in Persuasion qualifies her to attend the 143rd Interstate Oratorical Association Competition, continuing Lafayette’s long tradition of qualifying a student to the contest.  This year the event will take place in Boston, Massachusetts where Wnek will compete against two qualifiers from all participating states.  Wnek also placed 5th in individual sweeps, an award indicating her overall success at the tournament.  Ryan Raesly took one of our three finalist medals, finishing 6th in the state for Extemporaneous Speaking.  Ashli Austin took another with 2nd place in Dramatic Interpretation, and Sharon Chen finished 5th place in Persuasion. First-year competitors Daniela Filip, Peter Berexa, Marybeth O’Connor and Tristan Thompson also attended the tournament.

At North East Regionals in Boston, Massachusetts the team found success with Ryan Monahan, advancing to semifinals with 4-0 preliminary record.  He was unfortunately defeated by Katie Muzzy from St. Anselm College on a two-one decision in semifinals but managed to win second place speaker. Joshua Geesey also attended the tournament and had a strong performance. He ended the day with a 2-2 prelim record.

Congratulations are in order! The momentum has certainly been built for the upcoming Novice National Tournament hosted by Lafayette College, March 10^th – 12^th.

The Lafayette Forensics Society recently returned from Columbus, Ohio where the team competed at The Ohio State University’s “Holiday Frolic” Tournament. Ten members of the team traveled to the tournament, which is often referred to as the Fall Championships. It is traditionally the last tournament of the semester and draws schools from all over the nation.

Awards Breakdown:
Daniela Filip – 3rd Novice Extemp
Ryan Raesly – 1st Novice Impromptu, 2nd Novice Extemp, Octafinalist in LD Debate
Angela Wnek – 3rd Prose Interpretation, 6th Poetry Interpretation

Daniela and Ryan’s events were new qualifications for NFA Nationals, bringing the total events/slots qualified during the Fall Semester to 25. Next up for the Lafayette Forensics Society is Hell Froze Over at the University of Texas-Austin for IErs and Webster University’s Gorlok Invitational in St. Louis for debaters.

Happy Holidays from the Lafayette Forensics Society!

On Saturday, November 5th, the Lafayette Forensics Society had its most successful tournament of the year! Director of Forensics, Scott Placke and Debate Coach, John Boyer travelled with 11 students to Manchester, NH and the campus of St. Anselm College for the Jack Lynch Invitational. The team finished in first place in IE sweepstakes and second place in LD sweepstakes behind countless strong performances highlighted by SIX individual championships.

Angela Wnek – 1st Place in Triathalon, 1st Place in DI, 1st Place in Persuasion, 2nd Place in Poetry, and 3rd Place in Prose
James Pensack – 1st Place in Extemp, 3rd Place in Impromptu
Daniela Filip – 1st Place in Prose, 3rd Place in Extemp
Marybeth O’Connor – 2nd Place in DI
Sharon Chen – 3rd Place in Informative
Ashli Austin – 4th Place in Poetry
Justin Horn – 4th Place in Impromptu
Team – 1st Place IE Sweepstakes

Joshua Geesey – Quarterfinalist in Open LD
Ryan Monahan – 1st Place in Novice LD
Alex Hytha – 3rd Place in Novice LD, 2nd Place Novice LD Speaker
Justin Horn – 5th Place in Novice LD
TEAM – 2nd Place LD Sweepstakes

Congratulations are in order for the whole team! Everyone did a fantastic job! Alum, Ryan Benjamin, joined the team as a judge.  Freshman, Peter Berexa, also attended the tournament.  The IE team travels this weekend to Morgan State University, while the debaters wait until early December to compete at the Ohio State University.

On October 22nd the Lafayette Forensics Society travelled to Suffolk University in Boston, MA for the Suffolk University Fall Classic. This was the first time the team had attended this tournament in the last seven years. Seven students attended the tournament along with debate coach, John Boyer.

In NFA-LD debate, Junior Joshua Geesey led a group of first year students at the tournament. Ryan Raesly, Justin Horn and Ryan Monahan were all competing in their second collegiate tournament and their first in the Open division after debating in the Novice division a few weeks prior. Ryan Monahan finished in 8th place, securing the last nationals qualifying slot offered by the tournament. For Ryan Raesly, it was a much more exciting debut in the Open division. Ryan debated alongside Joshua Geesey in the semi-finals of the tournament where both debaters defeated their opponents on 3-0 decisions. Ryan and Josh closed out the final round, which was not held on the account that both debaters were from the same school. As the higher seed going into the single-elimination rounds, Ryan Raesly was named tournament champion! This was the first 1-2 finish of the year for Lafayette and it was enough for the team to be named team champions of the tournament.

In Individual Events, several first-year students also had success. Justin Horn finished 5th in Impromptu Speaking, Daniela Filip finished 2nd in Prose and Ashli Austin finished 2nd in Dramatic Interpretation. All three are now qualified for nationals in those events and their results placed the team in third for the team portion of the competition.

The Lafayette Forensics Society continues its season with a tournament at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, NH on November 5th.