Debate duo takes first place
Lovett College junior Scott Ruthfield and Will Rice College junior Ryan Levy entered their names into the annals of parliamentary debate history Monday as they captured first place in the National Parliamentary Debate Association Championship Tournament.
Ruthfield and Levy were the first pair of juniors to win the tourney, which was held on the Rice campus this year.
The championship, Rice's first-ever national speech or debate championship, came after 13 rounds of competition.
Ruthfield said that he and Levy were "very happy and proud to bring this award to Rice."
He attributed his team's success to good coaching, patience, practice and "the fact that Ryan and I worked superbly well together."
Speech and Debate Team Coach Dan West was proud of Rice's performance.
"I'm thrilled. It's the first national championship I've had as a coach," he said.
Overall, Rice placed fourth in the tournament. The team of Jones College senior Ravi Krishnan and Jones College junior Darien Lynx tied for 17th place.
Five members of the George R. Brown Forensic Society were ranked in the top 20 as individual speakers based on their tournament performance. Levy and Ruthfield placed first and second, respectively, Brown College sophomore Lauren McGarity finished sixth, Krishnan placed 14th and WRC sophomore Kurtis McCathern was ranked 16th.
West likened winning an individual speaker spot to "being named all-American."
The tournament, held from Saturday to Monday at venues throughout the campus, was the largest ever. One hundred sixteen teams from 56 schools participated in the tourney. It consisted of eight preliminary and six elimination rounds.
Each round included 15 minutes for preparation and approximately 40 minutes of debate. Topics ranged from morality to taxation to human rights policies.
Parliamentary debate is modeled after the British parliament, with one pair of debaters termed "the government" pitted against "the opposition."
The final round of this year's tournament was a face-off between Rice's team of Ruthfield and Levy and a team from the University of Wyoming, including a member of last year's championship team.
Ruthfield and Levy won that round by a 7-0 decision by the panel of judges.
Ruthfield said that while having the tournament at Rice was more comfortable, he did not think that Rice had an advantage since Rice-recruited judges were not allowed to judge Rice teams.
West said that the speech and debate teams have had a very good year.
"Our overall record has placed us third in the season sweepstakes," he said.
Twelve members have qualified to compete in the Speech Nationals next week in Florida. West said all 24 team members -- all freshmen, sophomores and juniors -- should be returning next year.
This item appeared in the News section of the March 29, 1996 issue.
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