Debate and forensics team places at tournament

(THE PICKET)—The Shepherd University Debate and Forensics team placed in multiple categories while competing in the University of Maryland at College Park’s College Forensics Association (CFA) Tournament this past weekend.

The team placed third in overall Team Sweeps and several team members won recognition in various events.

“This was the first tournament where three people placed first, which was very encouraging,” Dr. Joseph Robbins, second year coach of the Debate and Forensics team, said in an interview.

This tournament was one of two fall regional level tournaments, with the next one happening the weekend of Oct. 31. Tournaments are a weekend event, starting Friday mid-day, continuing with the bulk of the event on Saturday.

A CFA competition consists of, “informative speaking, persuasive speaking, after dinner speaking, impromptu speaking, interpretive events, which are acting or dramatic events, poetry interpretation, prose interpretation, single dramatic interpretation, where acting out a play or monologue, and dramatic duo, where two people acting out a scene,” Robbins said.

Below are the results of the last tournament:

• For the Informative Speaking category, Brooke Poling took first place, Charlotte Bellotte took second and Jessica Fort took third.
• For the Communication Analysis, Jessica Fort took first place, Brooke Poling took third place and David Bennett took sixth.
• In the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Zachary Hess won first place and Hunter Cutlip placed third.
• In Extemporaneous Speaking, David Bennett took third place, Hunter Cutlip took fourth and Brady Clarkson took sixth.
• In the After Dinner Speaking, Carlos Amaya placed fourth and Lance Wines took fifth.
• For the Impromptu Speaking category, Zachary Hess placed fourth.
• In the Parliamentary Debate Duo, Hunter Cutlip and Zachary Hess took fourth place.
• *unter Cutlip, who was in at least five events, took fifth place in the Pentathalon.
• Karen Paiz and Jamin Branch placed sixth in the Dramatic Duo category.
• Karen Paiz took sixth place in the Poetry Interpretation.
• Kira Northrop placed sixth in the Single Dramatic Interpretation category.

“We have had a lot of success, a lot of different people moved on to finals and a lot of people place quite highly- a very encouraging sign,” Robbins said.

The Debate and Forensics team of 16 meets once a week for a three-hour class in which they prepare by reading, writing, researching and practicing their speeches to bring home more titles.