Sophomore Luis Magallon and Senior Brenda Montes attended the Georgia State University debate tournament September 24-26. The tournament had a field of 113 teams composed of the best debaters from the top schools in the nation and is one of nine major tournaments throughout the course of the debate season, which culminates in the National Debate Tournament in March. Awards are given both to the top 2-person teams (who accumulate wins and losses) and to individual speakers (who receive speaker points). Included in the field were last year’s defending champion from Northwestern and the top speaker from last year’s National Debate Tournament from Harvard.

Luis Magallon, a President’s scholar, was the first place speaker at the tournament, finishing one spot ahead of last year’s top speaker from Harvard. Brenda Montes was the third place speaker. Luis Magallon was the only sophomore in the top 10 speakers. Although CSUF competitors have frequently appeared in top 10 speakers, Luis is the first speaker in the history of CSUF to finish in the top speaker spot at a major national tournament. As a team, Brenda and Luis finished with a 6-2 preliminary round record and in the top 16.

In related news, College Sports Television ran its annual coverage of the 2005 National Debate Tournament this week. It appeared on prime-time on four occasions from Sept 24-Sept 30, and a total of eight times. Brenda Montes, Luis Magallon, and coach Jon Bruschke were once again featured prominently.

For more information regarding the CSUF Forensics team, please contact Dr. Jon Bruschke at jbruschke@fullerton.edu or Dr. Jeanine Congalton at kcongalton@fullerton.edu.

Dr. Jon Bruschke’s Fall 2005 office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:15pm to 3:15pm at CP-420-7.

Dr. Jeanine Congalton’s Fall 2005 office hours are Mondays from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, Tuesdays from 10:00am to 11:00am, and by appointments at CP-420-6.

Check out the CSUF Forensics website at http://communications.fullerton.edu/forensics/.