2016-17 Talkin’ Broncos, photo by Allison Corona
The Pi Kappa Delta National Champion Boise State Speech and Debate team finished the conference season with their sixth-consecutive win at the 86th annual Mahaffey Memorial Tournament in McMinville, Oregon, Nov. 18-20. The Talkin’ Broncos won first place in Overall Sweepstakes. The tournament featured 30 schools, including Gonzaga University, Carrol College, Humboldt State College, Whitworth University, Lewis and Clark College and Willamette University.
In Open Parliamentary Debate, the team of Ryan Orlando (senior, Meridian) and Jamie Maas (junior, Meridian) were tournament champions, with Maas winning the fifth-place speaker award and Orlando winning the sixth-place speaker award.
In Open Public Debate, Scott Ludwig (senior, Pocatello) was a semi-finalist. Justin Henry (senior, Boise), was a quarter-finalist, with Hunter Carson (junior, Nampa), Catherine Floate (senior, Meridian), Luke Yeates (senior, Boise), Kacie Hoch (senior, Boise) and Madison Grady (junior, Whitefish, Montana) finishing as octo-finalists. Kortni Clements (sophomore, Meridian) took the eighth-place speaker award, Floate took the sixth-place speaker award and Carson took the first-place speaker award.
In Junior Public Debate, Connor Johnson (freshman, Billings, Montana) was the tournament champion. Kaitlyn Rogers (junior, Boise) finished as a semi-finalist. Zach Hill (freshman, Kuna), Lauren Peña (junior, Meridian), and Elizabeth Popp (junior, Columbia, Missouri) finished as quarter-finalists. Octo-finalist included, Brock Arnold (sophomore, Meridian), Tate Volbrecht (freshman, Billings, Montana), Ximena Bustillo (freshman, Nampa) and Daniel Gardner (junior, Twin Falls). Gardner took the 10th-place speaker award, Volbrecht took the seventh-place speaker award, Arnold took the fourth-place speaker award, Hill took the second-place speaker award and Rogers took the first-place speaker award.
In Novice Public Debate, Steve Silva (senior, Boise) was a semi-finalist, Kelsey Cooper (sophomore, Spring Creek, Nevada) was a quarter-finalist, and Brittany Roell (freshman, Nampa) was an octo-finalist. Cooper took the ninth-place speaker award.
In individual events, Daniel Gardner led the Talkin’ Broncos with first-place finishes in both impromptu speaking and mad libs interpretation, and third place in poetry interpretation. Grady took first place in informative speaking, third place in extemporaneous speaking, fourth place in persuasive speaking and fifth place in prose interpretation. Janice Witherspoon (sophomore, Caldwell) took first place in program oral interpretation, second place in impromptu speaking, and third place in dramatic interpretation. Ludwig took first place in prose and fifth place in dramatic interpretation. Bustillo took first place in persuasive speaking and sixth place in extemporaneous speaking. Maas took first place in persuasive speaking. Silva took first place in prose interpretation.
Other top competitors included: Samantha Haskell (Tacoma, Washington), who took second place in poetry interpretation, third place in duo interpretation and sixth-place in mad lib interpretation; Rogers, who took second place in extemporaneous speaking and fourth place in both prose interpretation and communication analysis; Hill, who took second place in persuasive speaking and fifth place in extemporaneous speaking; Arnold, who took second place in prose interpretation and fourth place in poetry interpretation; Henry, who took second place in persuasive speaking; Peña, who took second place in dramatic interpretation; Floate, who took third place in both persuasive speaking and impromptu speaking, and fourth place in extemporaneous speaking; Clements, who took third place in both prose interpretation and informative speaking and fifth place in poetry interpretation; Mallory Clark (junior, Boise), who took third place in duo interpretation, and fourth place in both prose interpretation and poetry interpretation; Mackenzie Moss (junior, Boise), who took third place in informative speaking and fifth place in both communication analysis and after-dinner speaking; Brandon Sams (senior, Mountain Home) who took third place in prose interpretation, fifth place in informative speaking, and sixth place in communication analysis; Kaelee Novich (freshman, Nampa), who took third place in prose interpretation and fifth place in persuasive speaking; Johnson, who took third place in persuasive speaking and fifth place in impromptu speaking;
Hailie Johnson-Waskow (junior, Nampa), who took fourth place in informative speaking; Yeates, who took fifth place in extemporaneous speaking; Orlando, who took sixth place in both poetry interpretation and extemporaneous speaking; Volbrecht, who took sixth place in both extemporaneous speaking and prose interpretation; Justin Fields (senior, Boise), who took sixth place in impromptu speaking; and Cooper, who took sixth place in impromptu speaking.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2016-17 season with their first national tournament, the Gorlok Invitation at Webster University, in St Louis, Mo., Jan. 27.
The Talkin’ Broncos are the 2015-16 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 Manda Hicks, director of forensics at Boise State: mandahicks@boisestate.edu.
BY: CIENNA MADRID PUBLISHED 12:43 PM / NOVEMBER 28, 2016