The Bethany Lutheran College Speech Team continued its winning ways with a successful trip to the 18th annual National Christian College Forensics Invitational (NCCFI) speech and debate tournament on the campus of Colorado Christian University on March 20-22 in Lakewood, Colorado. Bethany was represented by five students: seniors Shawn Loging and William Soule, junior Jacob Schneider, sophomore Jeffery Olsen, and freshman Zeffie Woods.
The team won seven awards at the tournament. Woods was named the sixth best debater in the novice division of debate. Olsen was named the sixth best debater in the open division of debate. Loging finished in sixth place in after dinner speaking. Soule and Schneider were quarter-finalists in the open division of debate. Soule was named the top speaker in the open division of debate as well as a semi-finalist in the event of impromptu speaking.
Soule also finished in first place in extemporaneous speaking. He finished his fourth and final NCCFI tournament as the national champion in the category three out of four years. (He came in second in 2014.) Soule was also a national champion in impromptu speaking his sophomore year. Soule has won the most awards of any student in the history of the Bethany Speech Team.
Soule commented, “Over the past four years I have been incredibly fortunate to compete with an amazing group of personalities that compose BLC Speech and Debate. I never thought I could perform at such a high level or develop so much as a speaker, but [Coach Jon Loging] knew I could. Jon can take someone that has no prior speaking skills and turn them into an eloquent, phenomenal speaker. In retrospect, these four years have been filled with accomplishments, but the more I look back, the more I realize that they are not my accomplishments. Rather, they are accomplishments of a fantastic program filled with fantastic people led by a fantastic coach.”
Coach Jon Loging was also named Coach of the Year at the tournament. The award is given to the coach who best exemplifies the mission and the values of the organization. The executive council of the tournament unanimously gave the award for Jon’s commitment to the educational value of competitive speech.
“The tournament staff of the National Christian College tournament works hard for the rest of us. I just wanted to do my part,” noted Loging. “I work with a lot of amazing coaches and I am honored to be considered one of them.”
This is the seventh year Bethany has attended the tournament.
Competing institutions included: Azusa Pacific University, Belmont University, (Nashville, TN), Bethany Lutheran College (Mankato, MN), Bethel University (St Paul, MN), Biola University (La Mirada, CA), California Baptist University (Riverside, CA), Cedarville University (Cedarville, OH), Colorado Christian University (Lakewood, CO), Concordia University (Seward, NE), Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, GA), Dordt College (Sioux Center, IA), Florida College (Temple Terrace, FL), Grand Canyon University (Phoenix, AZ), Grove City College (Grove City, PA), Howard Payne University (Brownwood, TX), Kansas Wesleyan University (Salina, KS), Lenoir-Rhyne University (Hickory, NC), Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA), Northwest Nazarene University (Nampa, ID), Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, OK), Point Loma Nazarene University (San Diego, CA), Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ), University of the Cumberlands (Williamsburg, KY), Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL), Whitworth University (Spokane, WA), Wiley College (Marshall, TX), and Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA).