Contact: Steven Woods, director of Forensics, (360) 650-4879 or steven.woods@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM – Students in Western Washington University’s Western Debate Union have performed well in recent debate competitions, taking first place in one tournament held at Pacific Lutheran University and second in another held at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. Two WWU teams placed in the top four at the Lewis and Clark Tournament in Portland this past weekend.

At Lewis & Clark College in Portland, the teams of Stephen Moncrief and Zach Furste and Misa Haring and Bryce Danz reached the semi-finals of the open division. Moncreif was named the top speaker overall, and Furste was fifth. The team of Andrew Oommen and Lucas Hall also qualified for elimination rounds in the open division. The team of Tyler Dixon and Lindsey Worley reached the semi-finals of the novice division at the tournament, and Dixon was named the second-best speaker in that division. A total of eight teams competed for Western during the weekend.

Late last month, WWU students Kaya Henderson, Morgan Haskins, Haring and Danz competed in the William Jewell College swing tournaments from Sept. 17 to 21. The team of Haring and Danz made the elimination rounds in the first half of the swing tournament, advancing to octafinals. The octafinals round features the top 16 teams in eight debate matches. In the second half, Haring and Danz once again made the elimination rounds, advancing all the way to the finals before losing to a team from the Air Force Academy.

During their run in the second tournament, Haring and Danz defeated Southern Illinois University, the first half champion; Texas Tech University, the other team in finals; and semifinalist University of Colorado, Boulder. Danz, who joined the Western Debate Union after having previously been at Pacific Lutheran University, was recognized as the seventh-best overall speaker in the second-half tournament.

At the Pacific Lutheran University debate tournament, held on Sept. 25 and 26, students Moncrief and Furste rode a nine-debate win streak to the championship in the open division, defeating a team from Southern Illinois University 3-0 in the finals. It was Moncrief’s and Furste’s debut for the year and their first rounds together as a team. Two other Western teams made the elimination rounds, as the teams of Danz and Haring and Duane Goehring and Linda Junge each made their way to the octafinals. The Western Debate Union had a bounty of individual speakers recognized at the tournament, including Moncrief (second place), Danz fourth place), Furste (seventh place), Goerhing (14th place) and Sarah Jackson (top half of all speakers in the open division).

For more information on the Western Debate Union, contact Steven Woods, an assistant professor in the WWU Department of Communication and the WWU director of Forensics, at 360) 650-4879 or steven.woods@wwu.edu. The Western Debate Union is online at http://www.wwu.edu/depts/communication/debate.shtml.

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