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Ashland debaters take title By CHRIS BRISTOL ASHLAND -- For the ninth year in a row, Ashland High School's speech and debate team took the regional title for national qualifying. In doing so, six students from Ashland High advanced to the National Forensics League tournament, set June 11-16 in Portland. Two members of the Eagle Point High School speech team also qualified. "We've got a great team attitude here, and everybody pitches in for points," said Ashland High speech and debate coach John Tredway. "Obviously it was a collective effort." Featuring 22 schools from around the state, the regional tourney was held Thursday and Friday at Southern Oregon University. Oregon is broken into two regions, with Portland-area schools grouped as the other one. Ashland finished first, Roseburg was second and Eagle Point took third. The two schools were the only ones in the Rogue Valley that qualified students for nationals. Only students who placed first or second are eligible for nationals. Local qualifiers were: Jason Alansky, EPHS senior, humorous interpretation (first place). Poppy Alexander, AHS senior, Lincoln-Douglas debate (first place). Jeff Harris, EPHS senior, U.S. extemporaneous speaking (first place). Amy Heidrick, AHS senior, original oratory (second place). Dan Lanini, AHS sophomore, U.S. extemporaneous speaking (second place). Dane Reinstedt and Mike McNamara, AHS seniors, policy debate (first place). Jordan Rose-Merkle, AHS junior, humorous interpretation (second place). It is the first time in some 60 years that Portland will host the national speech tournament. The event is expected to draw 4,000 students, with PSU and the Oregon Convention Center serving as venues. The national tournament is not to be confused with the unrelated state tournament, which is governed by the Oregon School Activities Association. "They do it backwards," said Tredway, in his 28th year as Ashland speech coach. "We do national qualifying first, then state. It gets a little confusing." Regional qualifying for the state tournament begins this week. The state tournament will be held in April at Linfield College. Ashland High has won the state tournament eight out of the last 10 years and is the defending state champion. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA