Speech team rolls up another win

March 2, 2005

The SOCCCD speech and debate team won its third tournament in 2005 with a first place sweepstakes award at a

competition held at Point Loma Nazarene University, February 4-6. The team, consisting of coaches and students from both

Irvine Valley and Saddleback Colleges, picked up first place victories in January at CSU Fullerton and UC San Diego.

According to Forensics Coach Gary Rybold, the wins were made possible because all the debaters have had winning

records coming into the new debate season. Two junior debaters on the squad received awards for being among the top

six speakers in the tournament. IVC Student Body President Shaun O’Neil won a $1,000 scholarship as the top community

college debater at the tournament. He and his partner Rochelle Keyhan competed as the only community college team in the

Point Loma Round Robin tournament.

The SOCCCD speech and debate team has been ranked the top community college team in the nation for three consecutive years.

Awards:

Joe Griffith – third in informative speaking

Jessica Bursack and Olivia Weber – third in junior debate

Karina Qian and Jenny Tran – elimination rounds in junior debate

Shaun O’Neil – top community college debater scholarship

Karina Qian – fifth speaker in junior debate

Olivia Weber – sixth speaker in junior debate

Brian Freedman – semi finalist in extemporaneous speaking

Neil Minko – semi finalist in extemporaneous speaking

Karin Qian – semi finalist in impromptu speaking

Matt Contreras – semi finalist in impromptu speaking