Boise State’s speech and debate team, Talkin’ Broncos, continue their 2023-2024 season with a first-place sweepstakes win in individual events and a second-place overall finish at the Scheller Invitational hosted by Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.
The tournament also awarded all-conference awards for this current season. Boise State was recognized as a top Division I program and received first-place in individual speech sweepstakes and third-place in debate sweepstakes for the Northwest Forensics Conference season. Freshman Adam Pendergrass was named the second-place junior division competitor for the entire season.
Racking up wins at the Scheller Invitational
During the Scheller Invitational in January, freshman Angel Dang advanced through three-single elimination final rounds in the Novice Public Debate to finish second-place overall at the tournament. In Junior Public Debate, Pendergrass finished as a semi-finalist and received the first-place speaker award, while freshman Sam Kleman finished as a quarter-finalist.
In Individual Events, sophomore Allie Hampton was recognized as the tournament’s top individual events competitor in open division with a first-place finish in prose interpretation, second-place in persuasive speaking, third-place in communication analysis, fourth-place in program oral interpretation, and fifth-place in impromptu speaking.
Sophomore Anthony Thomas was recognized as the tournament’s second-place overall junior division competitor with first-place finishes in both impromptu speaking and editorial commentary, third-place in extemporaneous speaking, and sixth-place in after dinner speaking. Pendergrass was also recognized as fourth-place overall with a first-place finish in duo interpretation, and second-place in extemporaneous speaking. Dang was recognized as fifth-place overall with a first-place finish in novice extemporaneous speaking and third-place in impromptu speaking.
Bringing more awards back to campus
Several Talkin’ Broncos team members received additional high honors at the competition. Ben Smoldon took first-place in duo interpretation. Jaxon Holmes took first-place in junior program oral interpretation and fifth-place in persuasive speaking. Ivan Markevych, a freshman from Ukraine, took first-place in novice dramatic interpretation. Sara Beck took second-place in prose interpretation and sixth-place in extemporaneous speaking. Kleman took second-place in editorial commentary and third-place in novice persuasive speaking. Alison Hurst received third-place in impromptu speaking and fourth-place in extemporaneous speaking. Bridget Gibson took sixth-place in both persuasive speaking and junior impromptu speaking.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2023-2024 season where they will head to Dublin, Ireland, in March for their first international tournament. The team is supported in part through the Jeker Family Trust. For more information about the Talkin’ Broncos, contact Manda Hicks, a professor and the director of forensics, at mandahicks@boisestate.edu.