Blacksburg High School - Forensics and Debate

Forensics and Debate

In the early 1980s, Blacksburg was coached by Frank Moseley and led by academic advisor Michael Cronin, a former national champion in college debate at Georgetown. The team won several district and regional championships between 1978 through 1982. In 1981 and 1982, the switch side team of Ray Allen and Jim Baker won state AA championships in policy debate and garnered the top two spots in individual speaker awards in 1982. From 1988 to 2002, under Coach Karen Finch, and in 2003, under Coach Courtney Thomas, the school won 15 consecutive Group AA state titles in forensics, "the longest unbroken chain of championships in VHSL history", before they were defeated by Salem High School of Salem, Viriginia. The school sends students to national level competition annually, and has had several national champions, specifically in the extemporaneous speaking category. Dennis Price won the National Championship in Prose Interpretation in 1994. Jeff Emerson won the National Championship in Humorous Interpretation in 1991. The debate team currently consists of 4 divisions: Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate, and Student Congress. The debate team won the 2007 VHSL Group AA state title, against opponents including Potomac Falls and Charlottesville. The debate team also won the 2010 VHSL Group AA state title, winning AA Student Congress and AA Contemporary Policy Debate and semifinaling in Classic Policy Debate.