The Monmouth University Debate Team won 8 team and individual awards at the Western National Debate Championship at Sacramento State University in California on the weekend of March 12-14, 2016. Four of the six Monmouth teams competing in the tournament made it into the playoff rounds. The MU team of Matthew Toto and Prachi Patel made it to the semi-final round (final four) and the teams of James Hawke and Sabrina Saenger with a record of 5-1 and Gregory Harpe and Emily Mastocola with a record of 4-2 made it into the quarterfinal (final 8). Team captain Danielle Doud and Victoria Borges made it into the quarter-final round in the experienced division before losing a close decision to a University of Washington team.
The tournament included debaters from approximately 10 universities including the University of Washington, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Northridge to name a few. Each year a topic is picked to be debated at every tournament. The topic for this year is: Resolved: The United States should significantly reduce its military presence in one or more of the following: the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the Greater Horn of Africa, Northeast Asia. The Monmouth team researched and wrote three separate cases involving each of these three strategically important regions.
Each two person team is required to compete in six rounds of debate, three on the affirmative and three on the negative, with each debate round lasting approximately two hours. There were two rounds on Friday night, four rounds on Saturday, and teams that made it into the playoffs debated in single round eliminations on Sunday. James Hawke also earned a 4th place speaking award, Prachi Patel received a 6th place speaking award, Matt Toto received 8th place speaking award and Connor Kimmel received a 10th place speaking award. Victoria Borges received a 6th place speaking award in the experienced division.
Monmouth entered six teams in the tournament and all six teams were still in playoff contention up until the sixth and final preliminary round. The six two-person teams included Danielle Doud and Victoria Borges in the experienced division and five teams in the novice division including James Hawke and Sabrina Saenger, Matthew Toto and Prachi Patel, Gregory Harpe and Emily Mastrocola, Kaitlin Allsopp and Abdullah Rashid, and Emely Diaz and Connor Kimmel. Each of the six teams scored impressive victories at the tournament. The future also looks bright as most of the competing debaters are only in their first or sophomore years of college.
Please contact Professor Joseph Patten atjpatten@monmouth.edu if you are interested in joining the debate team. No debate experience is necessary. All you need is a willingness to challenge yourself and an interest in working with really fun and interesting people.
IMAGE TAKEN by Dr. Joseph Pattem
