California: Campers Win NCFCA's Largest Tournament Ever

Posted 1/13/08

In January, California hosted the nation's largest NCFCA tournament: 121 Team-Policy teams attended. This was likely the most competitive environment, more competitive than Nationals itself. TWO of the four teams that qualified straight to Nationals 2008 were Camp Alumni: Nicholas Townes / Esther Townes, December Rutledge / Aaron Krive.

Salt Lake City: Region 3 First Regional Qualifier

Posted 1/13/08

Teams from all over the NCFCA's geographically largest region competed in Salt Lake for their first chance to qualify to Regionals. Camp Alumni swept the tournament results with the two finalist both from Colorado Camp 2007: Zachary Enos / Ashley Liddiard (1st) and Joshua Craddock / Jennie Babcock (2nd).

Oregon: So Far, Quite Good

Posted 2/4/08

After two tournaments, eight of the ten Camp Alumni from OR/WA have qualified for Regionals in LD (80%). Of the top eight that qualified at the Auburn tournament in January, seven were camp alumni (87.5%). Of the top four that qualified at the Medford OR tournament, three were camp alumni (75%).

Alumni Take Top Awards in Virginia

Posted 2/11/08

Jason Hughey, camp alumni and 2007 NCFCA finalist, took an undefeated 1st place award at the Virginia State Qualifier last weekend. The Hugheys are facility coordinators for our Virginia Debate Camp, and the family did quite well at the tournament. Andrew Hughey and Josh Clark (both alumni) went 5-1 and took 10th place. Lydia Hughey and Anna Hoang (1st year novices, not yet alumni) went 3-3. Lydia's dad put it this way: "They were going into the 6th round [with a 3-2 record] and were powermatched against the team that ended up taking 2nd place."

National Open in Virginia Reviewed by CBN

Posted 2/13/08

The Christian Broadcast Network (CBN) gave attention to the NCFCA Open Tournament in Virginia where several Camp alumni appeared on camera. Jason Hughey and Marie Jeffries showcase the final round of Lincoln-Douglas debate, and other alumni give their 2-cents on the value of speech and debate. Watch the video here.

Colorado Open Unveils Several Successful Campers

Posted 2/18/08

Gold Standard Open Tournament in Colorado attracted 100 Team-Policy and 52 Lincoln-Douglas teams. Of the semi-finalists in Lincoln-Douglas, 3/4 were camp alumni; Suzanna Griffith, 2-year camper, took 1st place. The top two team-policy speakers were 3rd year camp alumni: Joanna Griffith (1st) and Zachary Enos (2nd). And campers did well across the board. Pictured here are impromptu finalists...five of the eight are camp alumni.

Centennial State: All Semis were Alumni

Posted 3/4/08

Good news from Colorado once again. The state qualifier produced out-rounds that shined with Debate Camp Alumni. All semi-finalists in both Team-Debate and Lincoln-Douglas were Camp Alumni, and a majority of the quarter-finalists were also. Of all those who received invitations to Regionals, all but one team were alumni.

Pictured here is a semi-final round at Nazarene Bible College for Centennial State.

Texas Open Features Camp Alumni

Posted 3/11/08

Congratulations to a successful Texas Open! The third and final NCFCA Open Tournament took place last weekend in Texas. HALF of the semi-finalists were alumni of our Debate Camp program. Griffith/Seibert (Colo.) took a qualifying slot to Nationals at 3rd place, and Craig/Topper (Tex.) took 4th place. Congratulations, Campers!

Update 3/12/08: The NCFCA has just posted the results on their website. Of the top 31 teams, 8 were camp alumni (25%). Six of the eight placed in the top half.

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Rocky Mountain Classic - Alumni Consist of 88% Outround Slots

Posted 4/3/08

Another big "congratulations" to the outround contestants at the Rocky Mountain Classic in Denver, Colorado. Camp alumni consisted of approximately half the competitors. These alumni were the ones who advanced ahead of the competition. Result: Of the 32 quarter-finalist teams in both Team-Policy and Lincoln-Douglas, 28 were camp alumni.

Update 4/7/08: Results are posted here, and photographs of the contestants here.

Iron Man Qualifiers

Posted 5/5/08

Two California Debate Campers have qualified for Iron Man at California's Biola University Qualifier: Anthony Moreno and Nicolas Townes. The Townes host our California Debate Camp, and Nicolas was 1st Place Extemp-Qualified, 1st Place Impromptu (pre-qualified), 3rd Place Open-Qualified, 3rd place Apologetics (pre-qualified), 9th in Duo (pre-qualified) and 1st place Sweepstakes! Congratulations Anthony and Nicolas!

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More Success Out of California

Posted 5/5/08

This email and picture came in from Darlene Townes, host of the California Camp Sept. 25-29, displaying the overall success of some of our debate campers at the California Qualifying IE Tournament last weekend:

Jonathan Johnson (novice Blue Book Camper this year) performed his rendition of a popular piece, 'Shotgun Cheatum's Last Night Above Ground'. It was absolutely hilarious and won him 2nd Place in Humorous and qualified him to go Nationals in Alabama. Awesome!

Esther Townes, was a Semi-finalist in Impromptu breaking in an event that had over 50 of the best Impromptu speakers in CA. She is also qualified in Debate to go to Nationals. Qualifying at the tender age of thirteen!

December Rutledge was 5th Place in Persuasive Speaking and Qualified to Nationals! She was the 2nd Place Expository Speaker in which she is pre-qualified. She is also qualified in Debate to go to Nationals.

Nicolas Townes along with partner Reah Rankin took 4th place Duo (pre-qualified) in a highly competitive room. He took 7th Place in Open Interpretation (pre-qualified) performing a speech that he and his older sister, Joy, wrote together. He was the 2nd Place Apologetics speaker (pre-qualified) in CA. Nicolas also dominated Impromptu taking 1st Place (pre-qualified) for the 3rd straight I.E. Qualifying tournament and becoming California's top Impromptu speaker. In Extemporaneous Speaking, Nicolas was 3rd (pre-qualified).

Overall in Sweepstakes, Nicolas Townes was the Number One Speaker in CA and an 'Ironmen' qualifying in the maximum number of events (5) a student can participate in at Nationals.

I am really excited about this upcoming year. We have really raised the bar and coaches are noticing!

UPDATE: Holly Trujillo, a California debater who attended Colorado's Lincoln-Douglas camp in 2007, qualified to Nationals. Note: California has an L-D track for the first time this year! Register for this tried-and-true program.

National Results

Many of the coaches are at Nationals right now, and several alumni qualified to outrounds. Twenty percent of those who broke were alumni, and 2 of the 3 TD teams who advanced straight to octas are camp alumni. Great job debaters!