Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 2/3/99
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   29

Editors: Photo accompanies release   Please note local interest
SLU DEBATE TEAM TAKES CALIFORNIA TOURNAMENT HONORS
     HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University's debate team took first place at the
University of Southern California Debate Tournament and placed three pairs of debaters in the
semi-finals of the California State University-Long Beach Tournament.
     Southeastern's Rebecca Gilson of Gretna and Ashley Smith of Zachary defeated Cornell
University's top team for first place honors at USC. 
     Gilson and Smith also placed second; William Long of Baker and Angel Monistere of
Hammond took third and Zachery Hyden of Tempe, Ariz., and Carl Gauthier of Baton Rouge
were fourth in the tournament in Long Beach, Calif.
     Also in Long Beach, Long won First Place Debate Speaker honors and Gauthier and
Monistere placed third and fourth, respectively, in the individual speaker categories.
     "Placing three teams into semi-finals was quite an accomplishment," said debate director
Scott M. Elliott of Southeastern's communication and theater department. "Our success against
some of the countries finest debate programs came as quite a surprise to the California debate
community."
     Elliot coaches the debate team with faculty assistant Terri Miller and graduate student
Reggie Span of Bogalusa.
                            - SLU -
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