West Chester University Forensics Claims 5 State Champions! The West Chester University forensics team won five individual State titles on its way to a Second Place team finish at the Pennsylvania Forensic Association Championship Tournament held at Lock Haven University on February 24-25, 2007.  This is the third year that the team has placed second behind St. Joseph’s University, but West Chester continues to close the gap on their national powerhouse rivals.  Last year the gap between first and second place was 414 total team points for St. Joe’s to 286 for WCU; this year WCU closed the gap to 357 to 317.  The next closest team was Lafayette College with 210 points.  Also, for the second year in a row, WCU took top honors in all four prepared speech events—After Dinner Speaking, Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, and Rhetorical Criticism—in addition to Program Oral Interpretation, a performance combining prose, poetry and dramatic literature.  As well, this is the second year in a row that WCU has won more individual championships than any other team at the tournament.  The tournament offers competition in eleven events.

The first place finish in Persuasive Speaking means that West Chester University will again be invited to send one of the two representatives from Pennsylvania to the Interstate Oratorical Contest, the oldest continuously running national oratory contest in the nation, dating back to the 1870s.  Each year the Interstate Oratorical Association invites only the top two intercollegiate persuasive speakers from each State to this tremendously prestigious event.  This year’s contest will be held at the end of April in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Laura Mikowychok, our State Champion in Persuasive Speaking, will be invited to compete.

Individual honors went to:

Susan Berberich, sophomore Honors English education major from Coatesville, First Place in After Dinner Speaking with a speech on junk culture;

Dan Blomquist, junior Honors political science major from Monroeville, New Jersey, First Place in Program Oral Interpretation with a program of literature on the barbeque as the modern-day tribal campfire; Second Place in Impromptu Speaking; Second Place in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Liz Dorn; Sixth Place in Persuasive Speaking; and Fourth Place in Pentathlon, an overall speaker versatility excellence award;

Liz Dorn, first year Honors biology/pre-med major, First Place in Informative Speaking with a speech on Uberman Sleep; Second Place in Dramatic Duo with Blomquist; Third Place in Persuasive Speaking; and Fourth Place in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Heather Gilman;

Heather Gilman, sophomore political science education major from Warminster, Fourth Place in Dramatic Duo Interpretation with Dorn; Fourth Place in Program Oral Interpretation; and Sixth Place in After Dinner Speaking;

Brendon Johnson, junior Honors political science major from Downingtown, Sixth Place in Prose Interpretation;

Laura Mikowychok, senior English literature major from Downingtown, First Place in Persuasive Speaking with a speech on the our over-reliance on flawed computerized spelling and grammar check programs; First Place in Rhetorical Criticism with an analysis of Bad Twin, the fiction bestseller written by a fictional character from Lost—the television series; Second Place in Prose Interpretation; Fourth Place in Poetry Interpretation; and Third Place in Pentathlon.

Lee Schimmel, sophomore Honors mathematics education major from Levittown, Second Place in Rhetorical Criticism;

Eric Smith, senior communication studies major from Shamokin, Fourth Place in Extemporaneous Speaking; and Fifth Place in Informative Speaking.

For more information, please contact the Director of Forensics, Mark Hickman, at mhickman@wcupa.edu or 610-436-6942.

Congratulations to Golden Ram's Swim teams.
Congratulations to Coach Jamie Rudisill and the Men’s and Women’s Swimming Team for winning the PSAC Swimming Championships this past week.  Highlights from the Athletic Department website http://wcupagoldenrams.olinesports.com/ are listed below.  Best wishes to the swimmers who have earned the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Nationals.  Go RAMS!

1 West Chester University 810
2 Clarion University 562
3 Indiana University of Pa. 381
4 Shippensburg University 377
5 Bloomsburg University 338
6 Edinboro University 253
7 Kutztown University 213.5
8 California University of Pa. 190
9 Lock Haven University 161.5
10 Millersville University 92
11 Slippery Rock University 88
12 East Stroudsburg University 86
13 Mansfield University 51

West Chester Men Capture 9th consecutive PSAC Swimming Championship

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