First Time Competitors Win Second Place in PortlandOctober 10, 2004 Ten Northwest University debaters gathered in Portland with 180 students from 22 colleges and universities for the first tournament of the season at Lewis and Clark College on October 8 – 10. When the three day intellectual Olympics was over, seven students came home with top awards, including second, fourth and fifth place. Announced twenty minutes before each round, students grappled with such topics as the electoral college, nationalized health care, intervention in the Sudan, balanced budget amendment, and three strikes laws. Congratulations to Mark Abbott and Nathan Chambers for winning second place in novice division. Competing in a pool of fifteen teams, the Northwest University team won seven of their nine rounds, going all the way to finals in a match with Whitman College. The men lost their case affirming an end to term limits for the presidency. It was the first tournament for both. Chambers was also recognized as the eighth best novice speaker out of 30. Our other novice team, Rory Elridge and Tania Fleming also broke into final rounds. They lost the quarter-final round to bring home a fourth place plaque. It was the pair’s first tournament. Elridge also won a finalist award in impromptu speaking – an individual speaking event that went on between debates. In junior division the Northwest team of Jordan Goddard and Johanna Burch reached the octo-final round, where they lost to bring home a fifth place plaque. In addition to wins and losses, judges rank debaters for speaking ability and the top five are given awards in each division. Goddard received an award for ranking as the second best junior division speaker out of sixty. Team captain Sara Boyd won third place in impromptu speaking. The next tournament for the Eagle Debate Team will be held at Pacific
Lutheran University in Tacoma on October 23. Other meets planned for
the semester include Lower Columbia College in Longview and Linfield
College in McMinnville, Oregon. Two debaters, |