By MONICA KELLY

mak012@latech.edu

 

Tech debate finished with a first-place sweepstakes last Friday and Saturday at the University of Louisiana-Monroe’s R.J. Bicker Debate and Individual Events Tournament.

Another first-place win occured in the Louisiana State University-Alexandra tournament.

ULM’s tournament was sponsored by the ULM Speech and Debate Forum and held in honor of the late Dr. Robert J. Bicker, a former director of forensics at ULM.

Evie Breithaupt, a graduate student of English, said she is very excited about the victory and prepared very diligently for the tournament at ULM.

“I won in open in a 2-1 decision against Chris Duerringer from Stephen F. Austin University,” Breithaupt said.

“We debated on whether or not the United States needs national health care. I was on the affirmative, arguing that we did not need national health insurance.”

Breithaupt said Adam Hellmers, a sophomore electrical engineering major, was on the affirmative for the same topic which proved to be very effective for the two.

Hellmers won first place in the novice division and was the second place speaker.

Hellmers defeated Randi Cooper from Stephen F. Austin University to take the first place title.

In individual events, Elizabeth Clement, a junior speech major, received fifth place in the persuasive section.

Puneet Sharma, a freshman biology major, received sixth place in extemporaneous speaking and fourth place in impromptu speaking.

Nick Cordaro, a senior speech major, received second place in the after-dinner speaking section and second place in persuasive speaking.

Kris Lucas, a senior speech major, received second place in informative speaking and third place in extemporaneous speaking.

As a whole in the individual events, the team had a second place finish.

In the novice debate section, Leigh Masling, a senior interior design major, was a quarterfinalist and fourth place speaker.

John Dean, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, was an octofinalist and fifth place speaker.

Sara Sullivan, a junior speech major, was a quarterfinalist and Kyle O’Neal, a senior speech major was an octofinalist.

In the open debate section, Breithaupt placed first overall and was fifth place speaker while Lucas was a quarterfinalist and first place speaker overall.

Lucas said he is very proud of the efforts his team put forth and looks forward to the next big tournament.

The next tournament is the state championship on Friday and Saturday, at Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge.

Trey Gibson, the director of speech and debate, said his team is in the middle of a grueling tournament run, but looks forward to the competition.

The team will compete the following weekend, Feb. 16 and 17, at Henderson State in Arkadelphia, Ark.