Truman State Forensics Union started off the month of November with an excellent showing. The individual events competitors traveled to Peoria, Illinois, to compete in the 78th Annual L.E. Norton Memorial Tournament at Bradley University. The Norton is the biggest invitational tournament of the semester, drawing powerhouse teams like Western Kentucky University, GeorgeMason, the University of Alabama, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Varsity competitor Emery McEvoy, a second-year accounting
major from Springfield, Missouri, was a semifinalist in extemporaneous speaking. Novice competitors Annie Nguyen and Jack Unsell also did incredibly well. Unsell, a first-year political science and environmental science double-major from Kansas City, Missouri, was 5th in novice extemporaneous and a semifinalist in novice impromptu speaking. Nguyen, a first-year political science and environmental science double-major from Wichita, Kansas, was tournament champion in novice persuasive speaking. Individual events competitors also participated in the next installment of the Online Asynchronous Tournament Series (OATS). Third-year political science major Ashton Mullen placed 5th in extemporaneous speaking.
In debate, the team simultaneously attended the Illinois State University Redbird Invitational online. Making it to the final roundof NFA Lincoln-Douglas debate was second-year mathematics major Ryan Franklin from Fairview Heights, Illinois. He placed 2nd overall in the tournament. Third-year political science and philosophy major, Payten Luaders, from Montreal, Missouri, was an octafinalist and received a 3rd place speaker award. Also finishing as an octafinalist was Ammi Mchugh, a first-year political science and creative writing double-major from Jefferson City. First year Nevaeh Carter, a communication disorders major from Wichita, Kansas, secured a quarterfinalist finish. The team was second overall in tournament sweepstakes, topping nationally-ranked programs such as North Texas, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Pittsburg, and Lewis and Clark.
With this impressive showing to close out the in-person competition for the fall semester, coaches are looking towards Spring. Coach Ben Davis says, “This semester has been full of great successes, now it’s time to plan for the future.” The team is hard at work preparing for its next semester of competition.