The Boise State Speech and Debate team continues their nearly two-year undefeated conference record with a first-place overall sweepstakes finish at the 95th Annual Mahaffey Memorial, hosted by Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, Nov. 14-16. The tournament included 21 schools, with competitors from California, Utah, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota and Idaho. Over 450 individual entries, Allie Hampton (senior, Meridian) was recognized as the tournament’s top open division competitor and Ari Ashby (sophomore, Idaho Falls) was recognized as the tournament’s top junior division competitor. Jaxon Holmes (junior, Garden City), Chloe Sellers (senior, Twin Falls), Jesse Madison (sophomore, Meridian), Cadence Marang (junior, Nampa), and Ben Hobbs (freshman, Caldwell) all finished in the top five of their respective divisions.
In Open Public Debate, Jaxon Holmes won the tournament and received the fifth-place speaker award, while Hampton took second in the tournament and received the first-place speaker award. Adam Pendergrass (senior, Nampa) finished as a semi-finalist. Sam Kleman (junior, Boise) finished as a quarter-finalist. Sellers and Ivan Markevych (junior, Kremenchuk, Poltava region, Ukraine) bothfinished as octo-finalists, with Sellers receiving the third-place speaker award. In Junior Public Debate, Marang, Colby Bond (sophomore, Meridian), Aleigh Holmes (freshman, Garden City) and Brayden Parks (sophomore, Mountain Home) all finished as quarter-finalists. Madison finished as an octo-finalist. In the novice division, Hobbsfinished as a semi-finalist.
In Individual Events, Hampton led the Talkin’ Broncos with first-place finishes in informative speaking, impromptu speaking, and persuasive speaking and fourth- place finishes in both program oral interpretation and prose interpretation. Jaxon Holmes took first-place in extemporaneous speaking, second-place in prose interpretation and second-place in duo interpretation with Pendergrass. Ryan Wind (junior, Meridian) took first-place in prose interpretation. Madison finished first-place in junior impromptu speaking, third-place in junior extemporaneous speaking, third-place in junior prose interpretation, fourth-place in informative speaking, and fifth-place in junior persuasive speaking. Marang won first-place in junior prose interpretation, and fourth-place in both junior extemporaneous speaking and junior impromptu speaking. In novice competition, Hobbs received first-place in novice persuasive speaking and second-place in dramatic interpretation. Bond received top novice in dramatic interpretation and fifth-place in junior after-dinner speaking. Seddi Momenpour (freshman, Nampa) finished as top novice in after-dinner speaking.
Other top competitors included: Ari Ashbury (sophomore, Idaho Falls), whoreceived second-place in informative speaking, junior extemporaneous speaking, junior persuasive speaking, and third-place in junior impromptu speaking; Orion Logan (junior, Boise), who received third-place in open impromptu speaking and fourth-place in dramatic interpretation; Bridget Gibson (junior, Boise), who received third-place in communication analysis and fifth-place in persuasive speaking; Aleigh Holmes, who received second-place in junior prose and third-place in junior persuasive speaking; Kleman, who received fourth place in communication analysis and fifth place in impromptu speaking; Parks, who received second-place in both novice informative and junior impromptu speaking; Kiryn Willett (senior, Boise), who received third-place in open extemporaneous speaking; and Pendergrass, who received fifth-place in poetry interpretation.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2025-2026 season with their third designated conference tournament, the Scheller Forensics Invitational, hosted by Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon in January 2026. The Talkin’ Broncos 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 at mandahicks@boisestate.edu.