Flagstaffsooner
4/3/2010, 08:49 AM
:D
http://newsok.com/ou-debate-team-captures-3rd-national-championship/article/3451170?custom_click=headlines_widget
OU debate team captures 3rd national championship
BY JAMES S. TYREE http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/newsok/images/comment_icon.gif 2 Comments (http://newsok.com/article/3451170#disqus_thread) </SPAN>Published: April 3, 2010
NORMAN (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Norman+(Oklahoma)&CATEGORY=CITY) — R.J. Giglio (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=R.J.+Giglio&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Nick Watts (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Nick+Watts&CATEGORY=PERSON) are making a habit of winning national championships for the University of Oklahoma (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=University+of+Oklahoma&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) debate team.
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/900442/medium (http://s3.amazonaws.com/newsok-photos/900442/medium.jpg)
University of Oklahoma debate team members R.J. Giglio (left) and Nick Watts (right) show their 2009 and 2010 Cross Examination Debate Association national championship trophies outside David L. Boren Hall with debate coach Jackie Massey. OU last week won its third national title in four years. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Multimedia
Photoview all photos (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos?custom_click=multimedia_all_photos)
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/900442/sq60/ (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/3451170/1/900442?custom_click=email_multimedia_gallery)
[/URL]
They recently won the [URL="http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Cross+Examination+Debate+Association&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION"]Cross Examination Debate Association (http://newsok.com/multimedia/gallery/0/?KeepThis=true&custom_click=multimedia_gallery&TB_iframe=true&height=610&width=820)’s national tournament for the second straight year. Counting the 2007 championship won by Conor Cleary (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Conor+Cleary&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Blake Johnson (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Blake+Johnson&CATEGORY=PERSON), the latest OU victory marked the third national title in four years for the Sooners (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oklahoma+Sooners&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION).
"Next year we want to win the NDT (National Debate Tournament) too, and no one has won both in the same year,” said Giglio, a petroleum engineering junior from Lafayette, La. (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Lafayette+(Louisiana)&CATEGORY=CITY) "That’s the goal.”
The OU team already has several reasons to be proud this year.
Watts, a history senior from Edmond (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Edmond+(Oklahoma)&CATEGORY=CITY), pulled the rare feat of winning a team title in addition to being named top speaker out of the tournament’s 434 debaters. Giglio was ranked the sixth speaker.
OU coach Jackie Massey (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jackie+Massey&CATEGORY=PERSON) said Watts became only the fourth person to take top team and individual honors in the same year.
"His brother was much happier about it than Nick,” Giglio said of Weston Watts (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Weston+Watts&CATEGORY=PERSON), who also competed for OU. "He called his parents and was crying because he was so excited.”
Nick Watts shrugged and said he was too focused on the team tournament to think much about the top speaker award. Team performance was more important than the individual award, he said.
OU sent four two-person teams to the championships, and all four advanced to the elimination rounds. OU’s other teams were Evan Defilippis (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Evan+Defilippis&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Danny Abbas (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Danny+Abbas&CATEGORY=PERSON), Weston Watts and Michael Masterson (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Michael+Masterson&CATEGORY=PERSON), and Shae Bunas (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Shae+Bunas&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Keegan Tomik.
The top 64 of the event’s 217 teams qualified for the elimination rounds. Massey said every OU team won at least once at that level.
Another plus for OU last weekend was beating Whitman College (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Whitman+College&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) in the title match after Whitman had won three of the previous six matches this year against Giglio and Watts.
Similarly, Giglio and Watts last year defeated 2008 national champion Towson State (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Towson+University&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) to bring the CEDA title back to Norman.
Jason Russell (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jason+Russell&CATEGORY=PERSON), an assistant coach and doctoral candidate who helped in each of OU’s recent national titles, said the team’s perception around campus has changed over the past few years. "When we came back, people didn’t ask how we did, they asked if we won,” he said. "The expectations are higher.”
Read more: http://newsok.com/ou-debate-team-captures-3rd-national-championship/article/3451170?custom_click=headlines_widget#ixzz0k2qiCva e (http://newsok.com/ou-debate-team-captures-3rd-national-championship/article/3451170?custom_click=headlines_widget#ixzz0k2qiCva e)
http://newsok.com/ou-debate-team-captures-3rd-national-championship/article/3451170?custom_click=headlines_widget
OU debate team captures 3rd national championship
BY JAMES S. TYREE http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/newsok/images/comment_icon.gif 2 Comments (http://newsok.com/article/3451170#disqus_thread) </SPAN>Published: April 3, 2010
NORMAN (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Norman+(Oklahoma)&CATEGORY=CITY) — R.J. Giglio (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=R.J.+Giglio&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Nick Watts (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Nick+Watts&CATEGORY=PERSON) are making a habit of winning national championships for the University of Oklahoma (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=University+of+Oklahoma&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) debate team.
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/900442/medium (http://s3.amazonaws.com/newsok-photos/900442/medium.jpg)
University of Oklahoma debate team members R.J. Giglio (left) and Nick Watts (right) show their 2009 and 2010 Cross Examination Debate Association national championship trophies outside David L. Boren Hall with debate coach Jackie Massey. OU last week won its third national title in four years. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Multimedia
Photoview all photos (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos?custom_click=multimedia_all_photos)
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/900442/sq60/ (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/3451170/1/900442?custom_click=email_multimedia_gallery)
[/URL]
They recently won the [URL="http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Cross+Examination+Debate+Association&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION"]Cross Examination Debate Association (http://newsok.com/multimedia/gallery/0/?KeepThis=true&custom_click=multimedia_gallery&TB_iframe=true&height=610&width=820)’s national tournament for the second straight year. Counting the 2007 championship won by Conor Cleary (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Conor+Cleary&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Blake Johnson (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Blake+Johnson&CATEGORY=PERSON), the latest OU victory marked the third national title in four years for the Sooners (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oklahoma+Sooners&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION).
"Next year we want to win the NDT (National Debate Tournament) too, and no one has won both in the same year,” said Giglio, a petroleum engineering junior from Lafayette, La. (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Lafayette+(Louisiana)&CATEGORY=CITY) "That’s the goal.”
The OU team already has several reasons to be proud this year.
Watts, a history senior from Edmond (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Edmond+(Oklahoma)&CATEGORY=CITY), pulled the rare feat of winning a team title in addition to being named top speaker out of the tournament’s 434 debaters. Giglio was ranked the sixth speaker.
OU coach Jackie Massey (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jackie+Massey&CATEGORY=PERSON) said Watts became only the fourth person to take top team and individual honors in the same year.
"His brother was much happier about it than Nick,” Giglio said of Weston Watts (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Weston+Watts&CATEGORY=PERSON), who also competed for OU. "He called his parents and was crying because he was so excited.”
Nick Watts shrugged and said he was too focused on the team tournament to think much about the top speaker award. Team performance was more important than the individual award, he said.
OU sent four two-person teams to the championships, and all four advanced to the elimination rounds. OU’s other teams were Evan Defilippis (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Evan+Defilippis&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Danny Abbas (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Danny+Abbas&CATEGORY=PERSON), Weston Watts and Michael Masterson (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Michael+Masterson&CATEGORY=PERSON), and Shae Bunas (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Shae+Bunas&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Keegan Tomik.
The top 64 of the event’s 217 teams qualified for the elimination rounds. Massey said every OU team won at least once at that level.
Another plus for OU last weekend was beating Whitman College (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Whitman+College&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) in the title match after Whitman had won three of the previous six matches this year against Giglio and Watts.
Similarly, Giglio and Watts last year defeated 2008 national champion Towson State (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Towson+University&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) to bring the CEDA title back to Norman.
Jason Russell (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jason+Russell&CATEGORY=PERSON), an assistant coach and doctoral candidate who helped in each of OU’s recent national titles, said the team’s perception around campus has changed over the past few years. "When we came back, people didn’t ask how we did, they asked if we won,” he said. "The expectations are higher.”
Read more: http://newsok.com/ou-debate-team-captures-3rd-national-championship/article/3451170?custom_click=headlines_widget#ixzz0k2qiCva e (http://newsok.com/ou-debate-team-captures-3rd-national-championship/article/3451170?custom_click=headlines_widget#ixzz0k2qiCva e)