Trojans Finish Another Impressive Campaign

USC Ranked 11th in Final Rankings; Extending their own records, they qualify for nationals 40 consecutive years

May 28, 2003 - The Trojan Debate has recently completed another strong season, even as they keep their eye on the future. Despite fielding debate teams that include only one senior, the Trojans finished the year 11th in the varsity programmatic rankings compiled by the National Debate Tournament. The Trojans also extended their records for the most seasons and most teams qualified for the National Debate Tournament.

The NDT rankings evaluate the top two finishers from a university at their eight best competitions. The Trojans moved from up 13th in 2001-02 through a number of strong performances. Daniel Wolnerman ('04) and Marissa Silber ('04) have been the most consistent Trojans, regularly advancing to the elimination rounds of these difficult competitions. They qualified for the elimination rounds at national competitions hosted by Georgia State University, Wake Forest University, California State University at Fullerton, West Georgia University, Baylor University, and Northwestern University.

Silber and Wolnerman joined squad captain Corey Turoff ('03) and Ross Faith ('04) in qualifying for the National Debate Tournament. The USC teams earned the first and second qualifying bids to nationals and marked the 40th consecutive seasons in which Trojans have competed at the NDT. USC extended its own record for most seasons competing (52) and most teams competing (83) in the history of the NDT.

Closer to home, the Trojans have also performed well. At the California State University Northridge tournamnent, hosted by Northridge Director of Debate and Annenberg/ Trojan Debate alum Becky Opsata, the sophomore team of Sameer Asad and Mitchell Tsai were semifinalists. The Trojans are also proud of the performance of sophomore Jeremy Keim and first-year student Kamil Chaudhary who earned a quarterfinals finish.

The Trojans concluded their season by proudly represented the university at the National Debate Tournament, the Cross-Examination Debate Tournament, and the National Parliamentary Debate Tournament.

The Trojans look forward to another great season but also would like to acknowledge their appreciation for two outgoing members. Coach Josh Miller. Josh helped develop the TDS parliamentary debate team and is the new Director of Debate at LA Valley College. Corey Turoff is graduating with a B.A. in international relations and will be a teacher and debate coach at Damien High School. We wish them the best of luck in all of their future endeavors!!!