Fresno State Barking Bulldog debaters Primavera Leal Martinez and Hunter Sansom placed third in the Robert Barbera Debate Tournament at California State University Northridge, Nov. 10-12, their final tournament of the fall semester.
Martinez and Sansom won five out of six preliminary rounds and advanced to the elimination rounds in the varsity division of the tournament, where they lost the semifinal debate to Arizona State. Martinez received the third-place speaker award and Sansom received the eighth-place speaker award in the Varsity division.
The Barking Bulldogs also took a team in the novice division to this tournament — Nick Mirza and Correll Vaughn won three of their six preliminary rounds, finishing in ninth place. Vaughn received the fifth-place speaker award in the novice division.
“I am very proud of their showing and cannot wait to see them excel in debate,” said Tom Boroujeni, director of the Barking Bulldogs. “We had a very successful fall semester and that was only possible because of the funding we received from the Associated Students Inc., the College of Arts and Humanities and Department of Communication. I would like to thank Quinten Levin for his help with coaching and managing the team. I also want to thank the debaters for their incredible work ethic, perseverance, and hard work. Our success on the Barking Bulldogs Debate Team is the result of their dedication and grit.”
The Barking Bulldogs’ next tournament will be the California Swing 1 Jan. 2-5, immediately followed by the California Swing 2 Jan. 6-9. Both California Swing tournaments will be held at the University of California at Berkeley.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 