UO Debate Team - Your 2011 National Champions

Good news for debate in Oregon - the U of O debate team is your two-time 2011 national parliamentary debate champions!

Seniors Matt Gander and Hank Fields represented Oregon in two national final rounds. The first was at NPTE, an invitational "March Madness" tournament for the top 64-ranked teams in the nation. Oregon defeated Whitman College in the final round on a 7-0, claiming the title back for the first time since 2001. The second, the NPDA, is a competition open to every college in the nation - over 150 teams were represented. Oregon defeated Washburn University on a 6-3 in the final round. It was the first time Oregon won the tournament, and Oregon FG became one of three teams in the history of collegiate Parli debate to win both national tournaments.

Gander and Fields were both raised on Oregon debate. Matt graduated from Sprague High School in Salem in 2007 and won public debate at the state tournament his junior year. Hank is from Coos Bay and graduated in 2007 from Marshfield High School, where he competed in CX and public debate. Both are proud ODI alums and applied to Oregon to do collegiate debate. LDL would like to congratulate them for their success and wishes them luck next year!

UO Clark Tournament

LDL had a strong showing at their home tournament - the UO Clark Tournament on February 25 and 26.

Competing teams:
The THREE HEADED MONSTER: Thurston SPD - Aaron Smart, Edie Powell, and Austin Dillon.
Thurston VV - Katherine and Cisco Velazquez
Thurston SS - Matt Selby and Kelsay Smart

We had a great time debating South Eugene, Century, and other Thurston teams. We got to compete against top teams from around the state in what was most LDL students' first open competition (and just their third tournament ever). Katherine Velazquez was third speaker in open policy, and Aaron Smart was fifth. LDL student Alex Payne (yeah, we'll claim him even though he was competing in public forum) blew the competition out of the water, securing first speaker and winning the tournament. Finally, Katherine Velazquez was the recipient of the 2011 Clark Tournament Scholarship to attend the University of Oregon next year. We are incredibly proud of all LDL students' hard work.

 Go Colts, Axemen, Highlanders, and the LDL Sea Lions!

UC-Berkeley Debate Tournament

Please congratulate Thurston students Katherine and Cisco Velazquez, Edie Powell, Austin Dillon and Aaron Smart and North Eugene's Alex Payne for their stunning success at the biggest speech and debate tournament of the year at UC Berkeley February 19-21. Representing Lane County, the team secured big wins over opponents from some of the finest debate schools in the nation, including Nevada Union, Little Rock Central (AR), and James Logan (CA) high schools. Katherine Velazquez was in the top 50 among more than 300 speakers. Alex Payne performed like a boss in IEs as well, breaking not one but TWO events, extemp and impromptu, at the biggest tournament of the year. 



Competing in a policy debate field of over 160 teams, all teams proved that LDL can hang tough with the very best teams. Their success was especially incredible as this was only their second competition, and the tournament drew far more experienced competitors from schools as far away as Washington, DC. Wish the  team luck next weekend at the UO tournament, where they will compete against crosstown rivals and occasional best friends South Eugene.

Competing teams:

Thurston VeVe Francisco and Katherine Velazquez
Thurston/North PoPa Edie Powell and Alex Payne
Thurston DiSm Austin Dillon and Aaron Smart

Special thanks to our gracious busmates including Sprague, Tualatin, and Silverton among others. Most importantly, thanks to David Harris from Tualatin for setting up the whole trip.