Chasing history is never easy, but the Barking Bulldogs debate team had that task in mind after being ranked 11th nationally and first in the Pacific Region District 1 last year.
It was more specifically the journey of the duo Jose Sicairos and Quincy Levin, attempting to follow in the footsteps of trailblazers Sierra Holley and Candis Tate. Holley and Tate made Fresno State history by being the first team to qualify for the National Debate Tournament (NDT).
“There are three who stood out,” coach Deven Cooper said. “Charlie, Quincy and Jose — They were the most consistent and the most promising based off of the records and comments from their judges. They were constantly seen as the future of the Barking Bulldogs debate team, even noted to possess the ability to surpass Candis and Sierra within a year.”
Of course, with the changing of the guard there are growing pains. Cooper characterized this season as a rebuilding effort.
“This season we had a few highlights,” Cooper said. “Because we are in the rebuilding and re-training stage of our freshmen. Our top senior team graduated and left a power vacuum on our squad. This is something typical that happens once your superstars have graduated.”
Both the men and women on the team got off to a fast start at the Golden Gate Season Opener in San Francisco. Sicairos won first as a junior varsity speaker; Charlie Payne took first in the varsity division; Melissa Harris nabbed a second-place spot in the junior varsity division, and the team of Irvin Alvarado and Jason Auro won the open division.
Sicairos, Levin and Payne stood out throughout the season. Sicairos and Levin won the junior varsity division of the 2015 USC Alan Nichols Debate Tournament and also reached the semifinals of the Western Novice Junior Varsity Championship Tournament. Sicairos was the first place speaker at the Western Novice, and Levin placed third.
Payne won first at the CSU Northridge Robert Barbera Invitational, along with his partner Alvarado, who reached the quarterfinals at the Sun Devil Invitational in Tempe, Arizona.
There was a significant presence of Fresno State debate throughout the country despite it being a rebuilding year, said Cooper. However, he said, there was too much inconsistency to really get a lot accomplished this year.
“At most of the tournaments we broke even,” Cooper said. “As in a record of 4-4, which is not enough at most tournaments to break into the elimination rounds.”
Many members won speaker awards, which impressed Cooper. He even characterized it as the team’s greatest accomplishment.
“That shows they have the potential to grow into excellent debaters that will eventually win a lot of the tournaments they compete in or ascend to be in late elimination rounds at them,” Cooper said. “Speaker awards are hard to receive because it is based on how a judge perceives you and the abilities that you demonstrate for them.”
He added that in the summer they will be holding a seminar, opened to all and developed by the team and staffers to streamline the development process of potential new debaters.
“I believe in President Castro’s vision of keeping the talent in the Valley in terms of debating,” Cooper said.