SANTA ANA, CA – Lafayette Forensics travelled to sunny Santa Ana, California for this year’s National Forensics Association’s Championship Tournament.  For one week, the members of the team left the dreary spring weather behind for the California sunshine.  Over 80 schools competed in the tournament that completes the team national championship calendar.  After Novice Nationals, Pi Kappa Delta, and the National Speech Championships, the squad was read for one last chance to perform.  Lafayette competed and won awards in both Speech and Debate, one of the few schools to do so.  The tournament was highlighted by Luisa Gunn’s extraordinary performance in debate that placed her tied for 5th in the nation and Saeed Malami finished tied for 13th in Persuasion and DI!  Luisa’s performance, along with her teammates, was enough to earn Lafayette 6th place in Debate sweepstakes, a major improvement over last year’s 10th place finish.  It was an excellent tournament and several finishes, like Kelly Mwaamba’s 4th place finish in Novice Poetry, are sign of great things to come for Lafayette Forensics!

Luisa Gunn – Quarterfinalist in LD Debate
Saeed Malami – Quarterfinalist in Persuasion, Quarterfinalist in Dramatic Interpretation
Ansh Mishra – Triple Octofinalist in LD Debate
Kelly Mwaamba – 4th place in Novice Poetry

6th place in Debate Team Sweepstakes