The Boise State Speech and Debate team continued its undefeated 2015-2016 season with a win at the 2016 Scheller Invitational in Forest Grove, Oregon, Jan. 29-31.Twenty-eight colleges participated in the tournament, including The College of Idaho, Lewis and Clark College, Pacific University, University Of Washington and University of Oregon. The Talkin’ Broncos took top awards and had five of the tournament’s top ten individual events competitors in both divisions.
“This is the final conference tournament of the year, so it’s a real push to stay tough,” said Manda Hicks, director of forensics. “This is a tournament where you see a lot of stumbles and plateauing after winter break, so it was great to see the team finish strong and have a lot of special moments. For instance, Mackenzie Moss had a ‘picket fence’ in impromptu. That means she took first place in all three of her prelim rounds and from all three of her judges in finals. That kind of thing happens once in someone’s speech and debate career.”
In open public debate, Justin Henry (junior, Kennewick, Washington) finished as a quarter finalist and received the tenth-place speaker award. In junior public debate, Janice Witherspoon (freshman, Caldwell) finished as a quarter finalist and took the fifth-place speaker award. Scott Ludwig (junior, Pocatello) finished as an octofinalist and received the tournament’s first-place speaker award. Kortni Clements (freshman, Meridian) finished as an octofinalist and received the third-place speaker award. Kacie Hoch (junior, Boise) finished as an octofinalist and received the ninth-place speaker award. Maddie Grady (sophomore, Whitefish, Montana) finished as an octofinalist. In open public debate, Fred Swanstrum (senior, Kuna) received the fourth-place speaker award and Brianna Dyer (senior, Caldwell) received the ninth-place speaker award. Luke Yeates (senior, Boise) received the tenth-place speaker award in British parliamentary debate.
In individual events, Swanstrum led the Talkin’ Broncos in scoring with a first-place finish in both poetry interpretation and persuasive speaking, second place in program oral interpretation, third place in prose interpretation and fifth place in communication analysis. Taylor Ashe (senior, Star) took first place in prose interpretation, second place in dramatic interpretation, third place in both poetry interpretation and editorial commentary, and sixth place in program oral interpretation. Ryan Orlando(junior, Meridian) took first place in editorial commentary and third place in persuasive speaking (top junior competitor). Mackenzie Moss (sophomore, Boise) took first place in junior impromptu speaking, second place in junior extemporaneous speaking, third place in communication analysis (top junior competitor), and fifth place in both persuasive speaking and junior informative speaking. Hailie Johnson-Waskow (sophomore, Nampa) took first place in junior informative speaking, second place in junior oral interpretation, fifth place in editorial commentary and was a finalist in persuasive speaking. Jamie Maas (sophomore, Rapid City, South Dakota) took first place in novice persuasive speaking, second place in novice impromptu and was a finalist in novice extemporaneous speaking. Grady took first place in novice informative speaking, third place in novice extemporaneous speaking and was a finalist in after dinner speaking (top junior competitor). Ludwig took first place in novice prose and fourth place in novice persuasive speaking.
Other top competitors include: Brandon Sams (junior, Mountain Home) who took second place in both communication analysis and editorial communication; Justin Fields (junior, Star), who took third place in junior informative speaking and sixth place in junior impromptu; Luke Yeates (senior, Boise) who took fourth place in editorial commentary, impromptu speaking and junior prose interpretation, and fifth place in both dramatic interpretation (top junior competitor) and extemporaneous speaking; Clements, who took fourth place in novice informative speaking and fifth place in novice prose interpretation; Andde Mendez (junior, Nampa), who took fifth place in program oral interpretation; Witherspoon, who took fifth place in novice prose interpretation; and Cate Floate (junior, Meridian), who took sixth place in impromptu speaking.
The Talkin’ Broncos were recognized for individual achievements as well. Swanstrum and Moss took first place overall for open and junior competitors; Ashe took fourth place overall open competitor; Maas took second place overall novice competitor; and Johnson-Waskow took fourth place overall junior competitor.
The Talkin’ Broncos begin their national season at Lexington, Kentucky, in March. The Talkin’ Broncos are the 2015-2016 Pi Kappa Delta National Champions in Speech and Debate and are supported in part through the generosity of the Jeker Family Trust. For more information about the Talkin’ Broncos, contact Hicks at mandahicks@boisestate.edu.
BY: CIENNA MADRID PUBLISHED 4:27 PM / FEBRUARY 10, 2016