PSCFA Fall Championships CSU at Long Beach

The Pt Loma Speech and Debate team just returned from a three day PSCFA Fall Championship Tournament, hosted by Cal State University at Long Beach. PLNU won First Place Team Sweepstakes honors in the Senior Colleges and Universities Division. Over thirty colleges and universities competed at the tournament. Most noteworthy for our program, is that Point Loma teams won First Place in each of the three divisions of Parliamentary Debate; Novice, Junior and Senior. Such a clean sweep is very difficult to pull off with the outstanding competition in this tournament.

The strong showing at this tournament should also help bolster us in the nationwide sweepstakes race. Currently Lewis and Clark College is listed as the top place team in the nation with 75 total points. Once the last few tournaments Point Loma has competed in are added to the list, we should have earned 82 points. This might place us in the top spot in the nation, though it should be noted that other teams will no doubt be adding additional points as well.

I will list the particular accomplishments below by name and event. Many of the team members that did not advance to the elimination rounds were extremely close, and all helped to contribute to the overall school win. Please pass along your encouragement to any team members you may have in your classes. Chances are they are utilizing lessons learned from your classes in their debates and speeches which cover the broad spectrum of subjects they study. Special thanks to coaches Phil Rath and Lauren Dahlquist, as well as alumni judges Janae Parker and James Adams.