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The results of teams' performance in tournaments throughout the year qualify them for the national tournament, which was held at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Overall, Rice came in 11th place. The Rice team was the smallest team that placed in the top 15 and the only team with only one coach that ranked in the top 25.

Individually, the members of the team performed well. Lauren McGarity, team captain and a Brown College junior, came in fifth place in impromptu and in the semifinals in both extemporaneous and informative speaking, and she made it to the quarterfinals in persuasive speaking. Overall, McGarity came in 18th, making her the first Rice student to place in the top 20.

"This is a goal she set for herself last year. ... she spent up to four hours a day for the tournament," Dan West, the team's coach, said.

Scott Ruthfield, a senior at Lovett, came in fifth in impromptu and sixth in extemporaneous speaking. Ravi Krishnan, a senior at Jones, came in fifth in extemporaneous speaking and broke into the semifinal rounds for impromptu speaking.

Although the team has done well in this particular tournament in the past, ranking in the top 25 as a team for the last seven years, this year sets them apart due to the breadth of events in which they succeeded.

"Though we had scored higher in previous years, this year we got to elimination rounds in events that we had never reached before," McGarity said.

Also a first for this year, the forensics team received honors for having the third best combined programs, speech as well as debate, in the country.

The forensics team also enjoyed success at the National Parliamentry Debate Association National Tournament, where they placed first overall -- making them the strongest debate team in the country.

This tournament, which has existed in one form or another since the early to mid-1970s, parallels the Individual Event Tournament for debaters as the pinnacle of their yearly efforts.

While individual events test the speaker's ability to speak about questions dealing with current events spanning economics to politics, "parliamentry debate is a two-on-two form of debate that emphasizes knowledge, logic, wit and rhetorical skill. There is a different topic for each debate ... teams win on a combination of logic and persuation," Ruthfield said.

Ryan Levy, a Will Rice College senior, and Ruthfield, made up the first team ever to qualify in the national finals twice and came in second place to a team from Regis University in Colorado.

Again a first in its history, the four teams that represented Rice qualified for the rounds of elimination.

Travis Hopp, a Lovett College senior, and Krishnan reached the octofinals; Robert Lundin, a Wiess College freshman, and Jay Welch, a Baker College sophomore, reached the double-octofinals, as did Scott Nilsen, a Brown freshman, and Ajay Krishnan, a Jones freshman.

Each individual debater's skills were also ranked based on scores measuring their delivery, content and analysis. This year, Ruthfield came in second, Levy fifth, Krishnan 14th and Lundin 19th.

Members of the team attribute this success primarily to members' committment and their coach's high level of involvement.

"Dan West is the driving force of this team," Lundin said. "He fills a number of roles -- as a mentor, father figure and friend."

"I'm impressed by the dedication to this activity ... I think this is what earned them first place," West said. West also attributed much of the team's success to the support of the Rice community.

This item appeared in the News section of the April 11, 1997 issue.