ASU's Speech and Debate Team Ends Season with National Tournaments
Debate Team:
The Cross Examination Debate Association Nationals hosted by Idaho State University fielded over 120 teams from over 50 different colleges and universities around the country. The ASU Sun Devils made a strong showing with sophomores Michelle Vered and Rohit Rajan finishing with a 5-3 as octofinalists. This rates Vered and Rohit as top-16 debaters at the CEDA Nationals. The first-year/junior team of Ryan Marcus and Lizzy Canarie finished in the top-32 as double-octofinalists. The teams of Peter Chotras/Pierce Young and Anna Moe/Tyler Anderson finished 4-4 each and narrowly missing the elimination bracket.
Speech Team:
Senior Senior Martha Galewski was named to the exclusive All-American Team and freshman James Qian finished 5th in the nation in Extemporaneous Speaking.
The team, additionally consisting of sophomore Stuart Ness and freshmen Paxton Attridge, Grey Lamothe, and Rona Berger improved 11 places from last season and finished 33rd in the country!
District I National Qualifier and Championship Tournaments
Sophomores Michelle Vered and Rohit Rajan compiled a 6-2 record at Pepperdine University to qualify for the debate equivalent of March Madness. Vered and Rajan, some of the youngest competitors in attendance, are one of only 78 teams who qualified for this year's National Debate Tournament. Michelle became only the third debater in the history of the ASU program to qualify for the tournament twice. Michelle is now on pace to qualify in four straight years, which is incredibly rare for any school, and she would double the appearances of any former Sun Devils at the NDT. Vered and Rajan won matchups against the top teams from UC-Berkeley, the University of Southern California, and Stanford University.
As a first year student last year, Vered qualified for NDT with a different partner making her only the 3rd student from Arizona State to qualify to the NDT more than once. In the 66 year history of NDT, ASU has had only 2 students reach the tournament in consecutive seasons - Joel Sannes ('90) and now Vered. Michelle is on pace to qualify four times in her four eligible years - the maximum possible and a rare feat.
Rajan was a novice in policy debate at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. He had a record of 33-3 across both divisions after a meteoric rise through novice and junior varsity divisions in the first semester that year, finishing the season with 3 varsity tournaments where he excelled (15-9). With less than 10 policy tournaments and only 3 varsity, Rajan vaulted into varsity this year. Rajan will now attend his first NDT, which marks just his 17th policy tournament and 13th varsity tournament.
Rajan and Vered are prominent examples of Barrett student successes on the team. Freshman Lizzy Canarie placed 1st with her partner at NDT in the non-qualifying varsity division and first year students Anna Moe and Tyler Anderson placed 5th in the varsity division. Sophomore Barrett student Peter Chotras missed qualifying for the NDT by a single ballot. Last year Vered placed 33rd at the CEDA National tournament held at Oklahoma University.
Also competing in the qualifying division were sophomore Peter Chotras and junior Pierce Young. They finished with a 4-4 record and narrowly missed qualifying for the National Debate Tournament. Their chances at qualification came down to a close debate in the final round of the tournament against Cal State Fullerton.
In the Pacific Championship division, ASU defeated USC to become the in-district champions of 2013. Junior Ryan Marcus and first-year Lizzy Canarie compiled wins against SFSU and Fullerton along the way to their championship showing. First-years Anna Moe and Tyler Anderson made a quarterfinal showing and finished the year tied for 8th overall in the district.
ASU 's Debate Team Continues to Shine in Spring Tournaments
Northwestern University’s Owen L. Coon Memorial in early February fielded over 140 teams from over 60 colleges and universities from around the nation. The varsity squad fielded the two teams of Rajan/Vered and Chotras/Young. The squad finished 4-4 and 2-6 respectively. While not tallying a positive win total, the squad remained undefeated against in-district rivals, besting UNLV in the fifth round.
The Val Browning hosted by Weber State in late January was an invitation-only round robin that hosted 16 of the best teams in the country. Sophomores Michelle Vered and Rohit Rajan finished with a winning 4-3 record, besting district rivals CSU Chico along the way. Vered and junior Ryan Marcus both received top-ten speaker awards, a shining accomplishment considering the hand-picked competition of the field.
ASU's Speech and Debate Team Continues to Dominate
DebateTeam Awards:
During winter break on January 7-9 at California State University, Fullerton, freshmen Tyler Anderson and Anna Moe placed 2nd in Junior Varsity. In addition, Anna placed 2nd as individual speaker in JV debate while Tyler finished as 5th individual speaker. The tournament fielded over 75 teams from 40 colleges and universities.
On January 3-5 the University of Southern California hosted over 100 teams from 50 colleges and universities around the country. Tyler Anderson took 3rd place speaker in JV debate while Anna Moe placed 2nd. These were especially strong performances given that Tyler has only competed at three tournaments and Anna just joined the team before these two tournaments!
At Wake Forest University on November 9-12, the "fall nationals" of the sport, the team of Rohit Rajan and Michelle Vered finished with a 4-4 record, placing them just outside the top 50 teams in a field of 130 plus teams. This is the first team from ASU to win 4 debates at Wake Forest in more than 8 years, and Rohit and Michelle are just sophomores!
Speech Awards:
At the Hutchinson, KS Swing on November 2-5, the Arizona State Speech Devils delivered what can only be described as a dominating performance at Hutchinson Community College, sending 5 students who brought home over 20 awards. The team placed 2nd overall on both days of competition, with numerous individual achievements as well. Sophomore Stuart Ness placed 3rd overall in the individual sweepstakes competition and took home the 1st place individual sweepstakes trophy as well. In all, Stuart alone brought home 9 awards from his performances in Persuasive Speaking, Impromptu Speaking and Extemporaneous Speaking, including sweeping first place in Impromptu Speaking on both days. Freshman Paxton Attridge earned 5 awards of his own, including second speaker overall and 2nd place trophies in both Impromptu and Duo Interpretation. First-year student Greyson Lamothe landed 3rd place overall speaker, along with 2 awards in Poetry Interpretation and Duo Interpretation. First-year student Rona Berger placed 5th and 7th in Programmed Oral Interpretation on consecutive days, while Sophomore Elijah Carimbocas twice finished 6th in After Dinner Speaking.
Due to unforeseen travel complications, a small squad of 3 competitors competed at CSU Northridge on November 9-11. Undaunted, they brought home several awards. Senior Martha Galewski placed 2nd and 6th in Extemporaneous Speaking on consecutive days, while placing 2nd in Impromptu Speaking. First-year competitor Rona Berger placed 4th and 6th in Dramatic Interpretation and 3rd in Programmed Oral Interpretation. First-time competitor and first-year student Ashley Condo placed 3rd in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking and 2nd in After Dinner Speaking.
ASU Forensics Team Continues Excellence!
ASU Forensics Team continues excellence with top awards in both speech and debate competitions. Under the leadership of Adam Symonds, director; Izak Dunn, assistant director and debate coach; and Nick Butler, speech coach, the team has traveled cross-country to compete in six tournaments this fall.
Speech Awards:
the US Air Force Academy in late September, five speech students brought home 9 trophies and placed 3rd overall. Sophomore Kayla Watson placed 3rd in Informative speaking, 4th in Extemporaneous speaking, and 6th in Impromptu speaking. Freshman Greyson Lamothe was 1st place in Novice and 3rd place in Varsity Prose Interpretation. First-year student Paxton Attridge claimed 1st place in both novice and varsity Prose Interpretation. Finally, Greyson and Paxton were 1st place novice and 2nd place varsity in Duo Interpretation.
At the Azusa Pacific University tournament in mid-October, the team brought home 22 trophies including 1st place overall, despite only bringing six underclassmen to the tournament. On back to back days, Kayla Watson placed 1st and 2nd in Informative Speaking. She also placed 2nd in Extemporaneous speaking, 2nd in Communication Analysis and was the 3rd place overall speaker at the tournament. Sophomore Stuart Ness placed 2nd in Impromptu speaking, 3rd in Extemporary speaking and 4th and 6th in Informative speaking on consecutive days. Greyson took 3rd in Poetry Interpretation and 6th in Prose Interpretation. Paxton placed 1st in Impromptu speaking, and 6th in Prose interpretation. Together, Paxton and Greyson took 1st place in Duo Interpretation not once, but twice. First-year student Rona Berger took 1st place in Novice Prose Interpretation and 2nd in Dramatic Interpretation.
Debate Awards:
At the University of Missouri Kansas City tournament in late September, juniors Jeffrey Dunne and Ryan Marcus finished with a 5-3 record and cleared to the field of elimination teams, placing them in the top 30 in a pool of 80+ teams. They finished tied for 17th place. This is the first elimination round appearance for an ASU team at a regular-season tournament of this size in at least 8 years! At a very difficult tournament, Sophomores Michelle Vered and Rohit Rajan finished with a respectable 4-4 record. Sophomore Peter Chotras and Junior Pierce Young were just behind with a 3-5 record.
At the University of Kentucky Tournament in early October, which featured 150 teams from over 80 schools, the debate team acquitted themselves quite well, with Dunne/Marcus finishing 4-4, Rajan/Vered 3-5, and Chotras/Young 2-6.
At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas tournament in mid-October, the debaters brought home multiple awards. In the novice division, first-time debaters Joy Lopez (junior) and Erik Furreboe (freshman) finished with a 4-3 record, placing them in the top half in their division. In the Junior Varsity Division, first-year students Tyler Anderson and Lizzy Canarie finished with a 4-3 record and advanced to the elimination round bracket where they won 2 debates before losing in the semifinals. Anderson/Canarie finished 3rd place and Lizzy was the 11th place speaker in her division. In the Varsity division, Marcus and Vered debated to a 4-3 record, advancing to the elimination rounds where they lost to a tough University of Michigan team. They finished tied for 17th in a field of 70+ teams. Vered was the 23rd speaker in a pool of 140 debaters.
Lastly, at the recently held Sun Devil Invitational in Tempe, ASU’s debate team won their first Varsity division tournament in nearly a decade! Junior Pierce Young and Sophomore Peter Chotras amassed a 5-1 record in the preliminary rounds, allowing them to advance to the elimination bracket. They beat a team from Gonzaga in the Semifinals and a team from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the finals. Rajan and Vered finished with a 3-3 record, while Vered was the 7th place speaker. Marcus and Canarie finished with a winning record at 4-2 but narrowly missed elimination round qualification. Marcus was the 4th-place speaker.
Congratulations on a winning fall season for ASU Forensics!