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From http://www.ad-hoc-news.de/Aktie/12717570/News/17856005/NATIONAL+GRID.html

Bellarmine College Prep Takes Top National Speech and Debate Honors

SAN JOSE, Calif.CA-BELLARMINE

A team of 15 students from Bellarmine College Preparatory competed in the National Speech and Debate Tournament and brought home the top Team Award of Excellence in both Speech and Debate, the only school in the nation to do so. Bellarmine also received the School of Excellence Award in Debate. The final competition took place on the campus of University of Nevada Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada June 16-20.

Forty rounds are required for the School of Excellence Award in Debate, and Bellarmine clocked-in at 111 rounds in the debate events alone. A total of 250 students competed in each event.

'These results represent hours of work every day, all year long, sometimes for four years,' said Bellarmine's head Speech and Debate coach, Kim Jones. 'The secret is that our guys coach each other, share all research, and have to compete against other champions from Leland and James Logan all of the time.
Every member of the Bellarmine team understands that the team always comes first; I think this performance reflects that.'

Individually, four-time national attendee Stephen Elrod went 13 rounds and took the national title and a $5,000 scholarship in Dramatic Interpretation. Georgi Dimitrov was named top debate speaker, and junior Evan Larson too third place in U.S. Extemporaneous.

In addition to coach Kim Jones, Bellarmine's Speech and Debate coaches included Chris Wolf, Bill Healy, Dee Dee Sullivan, and Marty McKenzie.

Bellarmine has won the California State Speech and Debate Championship 12 times in the past 20 years and last spring did so for the third consecutive year. Last summer its Speech and Debate program was recognized as one of only three programs in the nation to demonstrate 'Excellence in Speech and Debate.' In 2006, Bellarmine won the National Championship in policy debate, the first team west of the Mississippi to achieve this in several decades. In addition to recognition bestowed upon Bellarmine students over the years, two of Bellarmine's Speech and Debate coaches, Kim Jones and Jim Harville, are in the California Coaches Hall of Fame.

Complete Bellarmine results as follows:

Dramatic Interpretation

National Champion: Stephen Elrod (also winner of the Wayne Brown
Award, $1,000 scholarship for four year attendance at the national
championships)

National Extemporaneous

Third Place: Evan Larson

Policy Debate

Fifth Place: Joe Grimes and Will Rafey

Octafinals: Georgi Dimitrov and Carl Rice
Octafinals: Nate Wong and Nick Simmons
Policy Debate Top Speaker Award

Top Speaker: Georgi Dimitrov
Fifth Place: Carl Rice

Public Forum Debate

Fourth Place: Vijay Sridharan and Parijat Chakrabarti

Lincoln Douglas Debate

Double Octas (Top 60): Chip (Matt) Morton

Humorous Interpretation

Double Octas: Ryan Vasquez

Original Oratory

Double Octas: Kyle Vandenberg

Congress-Senate

Semifinalist: Anthony Paranzino
About Bellarmine:

Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Jesuit secondary school, was founded in 1851. Located in San Jose, Bellarmine is a community committed to a comprehensive education that results in a lifelong search for truth. The curricular program, through its single college preparatory track and extensive co-curricular program, is designed to develop an openness to growth, experiences in leadership, the pursuit of intellectual activity, and the integration of spirituality in all aspects of the student's life.