Tournament attracts 300

By Kearney Williams
The Metropolitan

Metro hosted its first speech and debate tournament in nearly 20 years Feb. 27 to March 1.

Close to 300 students from 20 schools entered the Downtown Denver Forensics Tournament to compete in debate and individual speech events.

Metroās debate team did not compete but worked the tournament, tabulating scores and assigning judges to debates. It is customary that the college sponsoring the tournament doesnāt compete, said Scott Gratson, the Metro debate coach.

The tournaments are divided into two events: parliamentary debate and individual events, such as poetry, drama, prose and informative speaking.

Colorado State University won first, second and third place in parliamentary debate. University of Northern Arizona students won in poetry, prose and drama. Texas Tech students won in advertisement, persuasion, and speech to inform.

University of Colorado at Boulder students took honors in impromptu speaking and Regis won for extemporaneous speaking.

Competitors from other colleges and universities, and Greg Russell, a coach for the Air Force team, said Metroās Downtown Denver Forensics Tournament was a great. Julia Truitt, a competitor from Colorado Mountain College, said that the judges showed up on time, which is unusual at many tournaments.

Metroās debate program is undergoing a renaissance after years of meager participation. The team is ranked 15th out of more than 100 colleges and universities across the nation. Terry Harney, a member of the team, cited a threefold increase in the teamās size this year even though its budget has remained stagnant.

The team has 25 members now, and Harney said that the team will ask for a budget increase for the 1998-99 academic year to cover costs of a growing number of Metro debaters.