By Dr. Doug Fraleigh, Director of Forensics
The Fresno State Barking Bulldogs Forensics Team participated in two regional debate tournaments during the past three weeks and had outstanding results at both competitions.
The Barking Bulldogs hosted the Western JV and Novice Policy Debate Championships March 8-10 and the Bulldogs defended home territory. Nick Mirza and Aaron Lowe won first place in the JV division! Jose Carlos Aceves and Cameron Ervin were semifinalists in JV debate and Scott Chapman and Jade Hilton were semifinalists in Novice debate. All six Barking Bulldogs also won speaker awards. In JV debate, the winners were Aaron Lowe (sixth), Nick Mirza (seventh), Cameron Ervin (eighth) and Jose Carlos Aceves (tenth). In novice debate, Scott Chapman (sixth) and Jade Hilton (tenth) also won speaker awards. All three Bulldog teams won five of six debates in the preliminary rounds, for an impressive 15-3 record.
A special thanks goes out to Director of Debate Tom Boroujeni and Alumni Coach Julio Lopez for administering the Fresno State tournament, which ran like a well-oiled machine, and for providing exceptional hospitality for our visiting teams. We are also very grateful for Ms. Beatriz Lopez (Julio’s mom) for providing a delicious home cooked lunch for all our participating teams and judges on Saturday.
The Barking Bulldogs also competed in the District 1 Pacific Championships at Fullerton College on Feb. 22-24. At this tournament, Nick Mirza and Aaron Lowe were semifinalists in JV debate and Cameron Ervin and Scott Chapman were quarterfinalists in novice debate. Aaron Lowe won tenth speaker in JV debate, Cameron Ervin was second speaker in novice, and Scott Chapman placed seventh. We also welcomed two more Barking Bulldogs to traveling competition. Ashton Morgan (debating with Jose Carlos Aceves) won one round in JV division and Jade Hilton (debating with Issac Salgado) won one round in novice division.
The Barking Bulldogs have two more tournaments on the horizon this season. Our more experienced debaters will participate in the Cross Examination Debate Association National Tournament at Long Beach on April 3-7. Then we will take novice competitors and new rookie team members to the Fullerton College Hornet Invitational on April 14.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 