Last weekend, Oct 5 and 6, the Barking Bulldogs traveled to San Diego to participate in the Aztec Invitational Forensics Tournament hosted by San Diego State University. A total of 22 teams participated in the tournament and Fresno State Barking Bulldogs shined amongst them.
In the Novice division, Demitria Wack and Payton Polanco won 4 out of 5 debates in the preliminary stage and advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced an undefeated team from Southwestern College. They won the semi-final round on a 3-0 decision. This advanced them to the final round where they defeated California State University, Long Beach on another 3-0 decision, winning the tournament. Additionally, Peyton ranked 1st place and Demitria ranked 2nd place speakers in the Novice division. This is an incredible achievement especially since this was their second tournament ever. Congratulations to both Demitria Wack and Payton Polanco!
In the Junior Varsity (JV) division, Scott Chapman and Lesly Salvador-Leon represented Fresno State with a 3-win-2-loss record in the preliminary rounds. They advanced to the semifinals of the JV division where they narrowly lost their round on a 2-1 decision to a team from Southwestern College and placed 3rd overall in the JV division. Lesly was ranked 5th place speaker, and Scott the 6th place speaker in the JV division. Congratulations to both Scott Chapman and Lesly Salvador-Leon!
“I am very proud of each and every member of the Barking Bulldogs Debate Team,” said Tom Boroujeni, Director of Debate, “They are dedicated and work very hard to prepare for highly competitive tournaments.”
He went on to thank his assistant debate coach, Primavera Leal Martinez, and the two varsity debaters, Aranveer Litt and Aaran Lowe, who helped him with coaching and administrative tasks.
The tournament was made possible by funding from the Associated Students Inc. (ASI), the College of Arts and Humanities, and the Communication Department.
The next tournament is the Robert Barbara Invitational at California State University, Northridge from Oct 11 to 13.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 