The Fresno State Barking Bulldogs debate team repeated as champions of the 7th annual Golden State Season Opener held in San Francisco last week, winning both the open varsity and novice/ junior varsity titles.
The team also placed first in the Speaker Award category to complete a strong showing at the full service tournament hosted by San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco at the SFSU campus.
Junior Varsity Champions of the Golden State Season Opener: Quincy Levin and Jose Sicairos with assistant coach Tom Boroujeni
Fresno State claimed the Open Varsity Division title for the second consecutive year when the team of Irvin Alvarado and Jason Auro defeated SFSU in the final round.
In the Novice/Junior Varsity Division, two Fresno State teams earned first and second with the Quincy Levin and Jose Sicairos winning the championship title followed by Joe Anderson and Melissa Harris. They defeated two teams from CSU Northridge on opposite sides of the bracket.
Also winning first place Speaker Awards were Charie Payne in the Open Varsity Division and Jose Sicairos in Junior Varsity.
Deven Cooper, a lecturer in the Department of Communications at Fresno State and Barking Bulldogs director, commended the students for their repeat performance and noted that three of the champions – Levin, Sicairos and Harris — are first time college debaters.
“The Barking Bulldog teams did an excellent job in winning the division and taking top speakers awards,” Cooper said.
The Barking Bulldogs travel to Weber State University in Utah this weekend for the 2nd annual Mukai Invitational.
For more information contact Cooper at 559.278.4001.
(University Communications news assistant Ashlie Day contributed to this report).
