West Chester University Forensics Boasts Six New State Champions! Getting off to phenomenal start to its championship season, the West Chester University Forensics (speech and debate team) won six of the eleven events contested at the Pennsylvania intercollegiate speech and debate championships held this past weekend at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.  The team turned in a convincing second place finish behind the host school and well ahead of Lafayette College, its closest rival and far ahead of University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University.

West Chester University won all four prepared speech events, Persuasion, Informative Speaking, Rhetorical Criticism and After Dinner Speaking.  Two of the four oral interpretation events also went to West Chester—Prose Interpretation and Poetry Interpretation; St. Joseph’s University won Dramatic Duo Interpretation, and Lafayette College won Single Dramatic Interpretation.  St. Joseph’s University won both limited preparation speaking events—Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking.  University of Pennsylvania took top honors in Debate.

West Chester won twenty individual awards at the State Championship:

• Shaundi Billet, sophomore psychology major from Hummelstown, won Fourth Place in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Dan Blomquist, sophomore Honors criminal justice major from Monroeville, New Jersey; Fifth Place in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Laura Mikowychok, junior English literature major from Downingtown; and Sixth Place in After Dinner Speaking with a speech on EBay.

• Dan Blomquist, in addition to his Fourth Place finish in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Billet, took First Place in After Dinner Speaking with a speech on nature deficit disorder.

• Meghan Groff, junior Honors political science major from Lititz, won Sixth Place in Single Dramatic Interpretation.

• Stephanie Hofelich, senior political science major from Slatttington, placed Fifth in Prose Interpretation and Sixth in Poetry Interpretation.

• Laura Mikowychok, in addition to her Fifth Place finish in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Billet, took First Place in Informative Speaking with a speech on Shakespeare’s influence on the English language , First Place in Rhetorical Criticism with a critique of Katherine DeBrecht’s new “children’s book” Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!, and Sixth Place in Prose Interpretation.

• Russell Moll, sophomore Honors music education major from Downingtown, placed Sixth in Extemporaneous Speaking and Sixth Place in Rhetorical Criticism with a critique of ICG’s public response to the Sago Mine disaster.

• Amiekay Richcrick, sophomore theatre arts major from York, placed Sixth in Informative Speaking with a speech on thermo-acoustic refrigeration.

• Eric Smith, junior Honors mathematics education major from Shamokin, placed Fifth in Informative Speaking with a speech on grancrete and Sixth in Persuasion with a speech on corporate cancellations of pension plans and retirement benefits.

• Lauren Willey, junior Honors psychology major from Towson, Maryland and this year’s Keefe Scholar, won Third Place in Single Dramatic Interpretation, First Place in Prose Interpretation, First Place in Poetry Interpretation, and First Place in Persuasion with a speech on dog bites.  Willey took the Second Place overall speaker award after a tie for first place was broken on the number of events in final rounds.  Top Speaker went to Jay DiDonato of St. Joseph’s University.

• By virtue of her First Place finish in Persuasion, Willey has qualified to be one of the two representatives from Pennsylvania invited to compete at the Interstate Oratorical Contest.  This will be the 136^th IOC, making it the oldest national intercollegiate speech contest in the nation.  The contest invites only the top two persuasive speakers from each state making it the most exclusive national speech contest in the country.  Invitations to this event are highly coveted.

Next weekend, the team will travel to Ocean City, Maryland to contest the championship of the Collegiate Forensic Association.  This regional forensic organization bases its championship on team performances across a series of three tournaments.  At the CFA Fall tournament, West Chester placed second, and at the CFA Winter tournament, West Chester placed third.  The team is well positioned to win the championship with a strong showing at this final CFA tournament.

The team will finish its championship season with its largest entry in nine years at the National Forensic Association Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on April 13-17, and Willey’s participation in the Interstate Oratorical Contest at the University of West Florida on April 21-23.

For more information about the Forensics Team, please contact Mark Hickman, Director of Forensics at 610-436-6942 or mhickman@wcupa.edu. (top)

West Chester University sent a team to Mount Saint Mary’s University, Maryland for their first experience at an Association of College Unions International Regional College Bowl Tournament.   Out of 17 competing teams, West Chester finished in 6th place.  The team consisted of Jay Donis, Jeremy Datsko, Marcus Maalouf, Kirsten Gilbert, and William Salamone.  Jay Donis was the second highest point scorer in Region 3 and third highest out of all 78 students in the competition including Region 4.  Kristen Gilbert was the sixth highest scorer in Region 3.  The combined Region 3 and 4 teams come from schools in Pennsylvanian, New Jersey, Long Island, New York City, Delaware, West Virginia, northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland.  Below you will find the ranking of all teams in Region 3 and 4.  Please join me in congratulating these very talented students. 

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Men's and Women's Athletes of the Week - February 27th.  Men’s  - Eric Broadbent, Jr., Indoor Track & Field (West Grove/Avon Grove)...selected the Field Athlete of the Meet at the 2006 PSAC Indoor Championships on Saturday and Sunday...captured the PSAC Long Jump and Triple Jump Championships...finished second in the high jump...earned All-PSAC accolades and qualified for the NCAA Division II Nationals in all three events.  Women’s - Nicole James, Sr., Indoor Track (Milton/Susquehanna Twp.). the lone woman to repeat as a PSAC Champion in the 2006 Indoor Track Championships this past weekend...captured the shot put title with a throw of 44-10 1/4...has qualified for the NCAA II Nationals in Boston again.  (top)