by Nune Gazdhyan
Staff Writer
After its second tournament this year, the University of La Verne debate team won sweepstakes in parliamentary debate.
The debate team accumulated enough points for the first and second place wins to win overall in a three-day debate tournament at San Diego State University, Oct. 16-18.
The team participated in several categories, including novice debate and open division. Individuals also entered in dramatic events such as impromptu, prose and extemporaneous speaking.
There were two novice teams. Freshmen Juan Garcia and Chastity Archer, who won the tournament in their category, made up the first team. Freshmen Irina Sardaryan and Tanseem Siddiqui broke into the top 10 best speakers in the novice division and made up the second team. Garcia also received recognition for being the best speaker in the novice division.
“It was really fun debating, but since we won the novice tournament we can’t compete in that division again. So it’s kind of scary,” said Archer.
Sophomore Sean Krispinsky took first place, and junior Justin Jones took second place in open division debate.
“It [placing first] made me feel nice and tingly inside,” said Krispinsky.
Because the debate team began participating in individual events, there were more opportunities to win.
“We have a large number of students who come into the program with a lot of skills and talents. They take this talents and refine them to succeed,” said Jason Sanford, debate coach.
This year’s debate team has scheduled a trip to London from Nov. 11-22 to compete in debates at Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
“The team this year is the best team that I’ve been a part of. This is the biggest in size and we all work together,” said junior Fabiola Ochoa.
