Beach Forensics Qualifies to National Championships!

Beach Forensics continued its momentous season by qualifying to numerous national championship tournaments in the beginning of March. First, the group of Rebecca Cantor (Beach Forensics Team President), Zhongliang Gai, Isabel Guzman, Harmony Hernandez, and Lynzie Hinman all individually qualified to both the National Speech Championship and National Forensic Association National Championship in May! This is the third consecutive year that five or more students competing at CSULB in intercollegiate speech have qualified to at least two distinct national championship tournaments!

Second, Rachel Thibodeaux became the first competitor at CSULB in nearly a decade to qualify to the National Parliamentary Debate Association and National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence National Championships! Thibodueax finished the regular season in parliamentary debate ranked the number 32 competitor in the country, and picked up victories over Point Loma, Grand Canyon, and Arkansas State at the national championships.

Third, the rookie policy debate team of Garret Novak and Jessica Nuñez qualified to the Novice/JV National Championship hosted (virtually) by the State University of New York. At the tournament, they advanced to elimination debates as the number one seed, culminating in a run that ended on a close split decision in the Final Four. Novak and Nuñez picked up victories over the New School, James Madison University, and New York University along the way.

Finally, the policy debate team of Noah Christiansen and Diego Flores qualified to the 75^th National Debate Tournament as the second seeded team in the Pacific region. This marks the second consecutive year that CSULB has qualified to the tournament, and Christiansen’s second time qualifying for the tournament. Christiansen and Flores defeated Southwestern College, CSU Fullerton, and UC Berkeley on their path toward qualifying. Both teams (Christiansen/Flores and Novak/Nuñez) also qualified to the Cross-Examination Debate Association National Championship!

Stay tuned for more updates as Beach Forensics catches waves at the upcoming national championships! GO BEACH!