Seven students traveled with Director of Forensics, Scott Placke and the Debate Coach, John Boyer to Boston this past weekend.  Suffolk University was host to the University of Florida/Suffolk University swing tournament, held each year in Boston.  19 schools attended the tournament, including 6-time reigning NFA-LD debate champions, Western Kentucky University.

The first day of the tournament was hosted by the coaches from Suffolk University.  There were over 40 students entered in debate.  Lafayette was able to place 2 debaters in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.  Sophomore, Samantha Sangenito, lost in the quarterfinals.  Senior, Sam Derrick advanced all the way to the final round, where he defeated Logan Parke from Western Kentucky University to be name tournament champion.  In the Junior Varsity division, Joshua Geesey advanced to the final round, where he lost to Krystina Drasher of Ithaca College.  Kyle deCant accompanied his debating teammates to the tournament and competed in Individual Events.  Kyle finished 2nd in Persuasion and was named tournament champion in Extemporaneous Speaking.  The debate team finished first place in Debate Sweepstakes, defeating Western Kentucky University.

The coaches from the University of Florida took over the second day and Lafayette found itself even more successful.  In debate, three students advanced to the quarterfinals.  Sam and Samantha made return appearances, and Ryan Benjamin (after narrowly missing out on day one) punched his ticket to quarterfinals.  Ryan lost in quarterfinals, while Samantha advanced to the semifinals.  Sam Derrick again found himself in the final round of the tournament where he was again victorious, this time against Kelcy Hathaway from Western Kentucky University.  In JV, Joshua Geesey again lost in the final round, this time to Chris Tinsley from St. Anselm’s College.  The debaters weren’t the only ones to improve, Kyle deCant advanced to the finals in all three of his events, claiming 5th in Impromptu Speaking, 3rd in Persuasion and 2nd in Extemp.  The debaters again finished 1st in the team competition, while the team as a whole claimed 2nd place in the overall team competition for the weekend.

The tournament wins were Sam Derrick’s third and fourth tournament wins of the year and has been in finals 6 times this year. He has also won 3 out of the last 4 he has entered.  Joshua Geesey’s performance in JV was enough to earn him an invitation to the national tournament in April.  Joshua is the 10th debater to secure an invitation, which represents the most that Lafayette has ever qualified to the national tournament.