Sunday, March 25, 2012

Lady Broncos Lead Weber State 7-0

Boise State decided not to leave this game up to one swing of the bat, and is leading Weber State 7-0 after six innings.  The Broncos are going for their 23rd straight home win.

Boise State Speech & Debate Team Wins PKD National Tournament

The Boise State Talkin' Broncos captured the championship at the 2011-2012 Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament in Overland Park, Kansas.

The National Comprehensive Tournament is a biennial competition that runs in the off-year of the biennial PKD National Championship Tournament. The Talkin’ Broncos beat out 69 other schools to take this year’s tournament championship in debate.

Sophomore Dalton Hellman was the tournament champion in open division public debate while juniors Taylor Bruun and Jon Agnew finished second in the nation in open division parliamentary debate and received the third and eighth place speaker awards, respectively.

“We have a unique situation with our program; we compete in multiple formats of debate at Boise State – something that many other programs don’t do,” said Manda Hicks, director of forensics. “When we get out of the region and have a chance to show off our versatility, it’s difficult for other teams to keep up. Boise State had six of the 16 octo-finalists in open public debate, and six of the 10 top speaker awards. We also had finalists in parliamentary debate and junior and novice divisions. Basically, out of 70 schools, we accounted for about 30 percent of the finalists in debate.”

Josh Watkins won first-place as the top speaker, was a semi-finalist in open division public debate and was recognized as the ninth best competitor in the nation with a pentathlon award. Senior Norell Conroy and junior Sabonn Dammarell reached the quarterfinals and Conroy was named as the ninth-place speaker. Robin Jensen was a quarter-finalist in open division public debate and finished as the fourth top speaker.

Lauren Bramwell finish as an octo-finalist in open public debate and garnered the second-place top speaker award. Cassandra Sullivan and Monica Cutler were octo-finalists, taking fourth and seventh-place top speaker awards. KayCee Babb and Skyler Bagler were octo-finalists in novice public debate, with Bagley earning a fifth-place top speaker award.

Watkins led Boise State with sixth-place finishes in communication analysis and after-dinner speaking, was a semifinalist in program oral interpretation and reached the quarterfinals in informative speaking.

Sullivan placed fourth in impromptu speaking and was a quarterfinalist in informative speaking, Jensen was a semifinalist in informative speaking, Tanya Medukha reached the quarterfinals in program oral interpretation while Bramwell was a quarterfinalist in poetry interpretation. Cuter reached the quarters in prose and the team of Cutler and Bramwell were quarterfinalists in duo interpretation.

Hellman, Sullivan,Agnew and Bruun won awards in extemporaneous speaking, Jensen, Bruun and Conroy took honors in improomptu speaking and Sylvia Forter was honored for her interpretation of poetry.

Individual members will compete at the National Parliamentary Debate Tournament, the International Worlds Debate Tournament and the National Individual Events Tournament.

Congratulations to this amazing group of Broncos!