The Pi Kappa Delta National Championship Boise State Speech and Debate team started their 2021-2022 conference season with their eleventh-consecutive Steve Hunt Classic tournament championship. The recent tournament, hosted remotely by Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, included competitors from Penn State, Berkeley, University of Texas, Gonzaga University, Rice University, and the University of Nebraska.
In Open Public Debate, Dylan Pope (junior, Blackfoot) took second-place overall, closing out the bracket with a semi-final win and securing a first-place finish for top-seed Julia Maas (senior, Meridian) and a third-place finish for Zac Maggard (senior, Nampa). Maas received the third-place speaker award. Brian Del Toro (senior, Boise) received the first-place speaker award and finished the tournament as a quarterfinalist. Gabe Guerrero (senior, Shelly) received the fifth-place speaker award and finished as a quarterfinalist. In Junior Public Debate, Emma James (senior, Eagle) and Ethane Ricks (sophomore, Idaho Falls) finished as octo-finalists, with Ricks winning the second-place speaker award.
In Individual Events, Del Toro led the Talkin’ Broncos with a first-place finish in editorial commentary, second-place finishes in both impromptu speaking and extemporaneous speaking, fifth-place in informative speaking, and was recognized as the second-place overall tournament champion in individual events. Edson Valdisimo (sophomore, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) took first place in poetry interpretation, second place in both duo interpretation and dramatic interpretation, sixth-place in junior program oral interpretation, and was recognized as the third-place overall tournament champion in individual events. Madison Martin (junior, Oceanside, California), took first place in program oral interpretation, second place in editorial commentary, and was recognized as the fifth place overall tournament champion in individual events. Sara Beck (sophomore, Idaho Falls) advanced through junior division semi-final and final rounds to take first-place in both impromptu speaking and extemporaneous speaking and finished sixth place in informative speaking. Ricks took first place in duo interpretation and received sixth place in junior division extemporaneous speaking. Josh Young (senior, Boise) took first-place in duo interpretation
Other top competitors included: Alma Ceja (senior, Hailey), took second place in duo interpretation and sixth-place in prose interpretation; Maas, who took third-place in informative speaking; Ethan Romriell (senior, Mineola, New York), who took second-place in prose interpretation; Sergio Sarmiento (senior, Nampa), who took third-place in editorial commentary and was a semi-finalist in extemporaneous speaking; Pope, who took fourth-place in editorial commentary and was a semi-finalist in extemporaneous speaking; Kate Jacobson (junior, Boise), who took fourth-place in prose interpretation; Brie Ellison (senior, Eagle), who took fifth-place in both program oral interpretation and editorial commentary; Guerrero, who took sixth-place in poetry interpretation and was a semi-finalist in impromptu speaking; Maggard, who was a semi-finalist in extemporaneous speaking; and Alison Hurst (sophomore, Boise), who was a semi-finalist in extemporaneous speaking.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2021-2022 season with their second conference tournament, the Mahaffey Memorial, hosted by Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon. The Talkin’ Broncos are the 2019-2020 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 Dr. Manda Hicks, director of forensics at Boise State at
mandahicks@boisestate.edu