- Freshman Megan Ford: top novice in After-Dinner Speaking
- Freshman Larissa Wratney: 4th Place in After-Dinner Speaking
- Junior Jackson Elder: 5th Place Extemporaneous speaking and 3rd place in Impromptu speaking.
- Senior Audrey Baker: 2nd place Prose Interpretation.
Press Releases
Truman Forensics Finds Success in Oregon
Forensics Team Finds Success in Virtual Format
The Truman Forensics Union competed virtually at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. This massive tournament had 70 schools represented, and while competition was tight, Truman had great success earning two new qualifications to the national tournament.
Freshman Elijah Baum took fourth place speaker in the junior division Lincoln-Douglas debate and advanced to the octofinal round.
Freshman Jackson Boeck earned a seventh place speaker award and advanced all the way to the final round in the junior division of Lincoln-Douglas debate. This qualifies Boeck to appear at the national tournament later this year.
Junior Michael Garret earned ninth place speaker in the open division of Lincoln-Douglas debate and was an octofinalist. This win also earns Garret his national qualification.
And after winning the junior division at the Western Kentucky tournament, nobody informed freshman Alicia Stout that the open division was supposed to be more difficult. She advanced to semifinals in the open division and took the top speaker award for Lincoln-Douglas debate.
The Truman Forensics Union is a co-curricular group building skills in speech and debate and representing the school across the country. For more information about the team, contact Craig Hennigan, interim director of forensics, at chennigan@truman.edu.
Forensics Succeeds at New Tournament
Additionally, the team took third in team sweepstakes on the second day of the tournament and took home third place overall. Sophomore Audrey Baker also placed third in quadrathon for the weekend, a category for students competing in four or more events.
On the first day of the tournament, Baker moved all four of her events to finals. She would go on to finish third in all of them, including afterdinner speaking, program oral interpretation, dramatic interpretation and duo interpretation with junior Austin Sopko. In addition to sharing third in duo, Sopko also made finals in afterdinner speaking and was named tournament champion in the event. He has made finals with this speech every tournament this year, winning twice. First-year Korrin Comley has had similar successes, reaching finals in informative speaking at four out of five tournaments this year. She also took home a tournament championship and top novice in this event, her second championship with this speech. Comley also reached finals in persuasive speaking, placing third and top novice in the event. First-year Will Henrickson placed sixth in extemporaneous speaking and was fourth and top novice in dramatic interpretation. Junior Rebecca Walker placed sixth in program oral interpretation.
On the second day of the tournament, Baker returned to finals in three of her four events. She finished fourth in afterdinner speaking, second in dramatic interpretation and second in duo interpretation with Sopko. Sopko placed fifth in impromptu speaking and in afterdinner speaking in addition to his second-place duo with Baker. Comley returned to finals in informative speaking, placing second and receiving another top novice award. Henrickson placed fifth in dramatic interpretation and fourth in extemporaneous speaking. Walker flipped her events, this time placing second in afterdinner speaking. Additionally, first-year Malena Gansmann joined the ranks of finals on day two, placing sixth in prose interpretation.
In total, Truman forensics earned more than 20 individual awards and five new national qualifications. This successful weekend concludes the fall travel season, but the team will be back the first week of spring semester taking a small crew to the Iowa Swing in Cedar Falls.
For more information on how to get involved, visit forensics.truman.edu or contact Christopher Outzen, director of forensics, or Craig Hennigan, assistant director of forensics.
-Courtesy: Truman Today
Truman Forensics Brings Home Tournament Championships
In individual events during the Missouri Mule, Oct. 20, junior Austin Sopko was named tournament champion in afterdinner speaking. He also placed third in impromptu speaking and seventh in communication analysis. First-year Korrin Comley also picked up a tournament championship in informative speaking, which made her the top novice in the event. First-year Will Henrickson advanced to finals of dramatic interpretation and placed fifth. He was also named top novice in extemporaneous speaking. Junior Rebecca Walker advanced to afterdinner finals with Sopko and placed fifth.
During the Dale Carnegie, Oct. 21, Sopko once again advanced to finals in all three of his events. He would end up placing third in communication analysis, fourth in afterdinner speaking and sixth in impromptu speaking. Comley also advanced again in informative speaking, placing second and once again earning top novice. Henrickson reached finals in extemporaneous speaking and placed third, once again earning top novice in the event. Sophomore Maguire Radosevic also reached finals in extemporaneous, placing fifth. Finally, Walker also returned to afterdinner finals and placed fifth.
In Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate, senior Johnathan Christy earned a tournament championship during the Missouri Mule by advancing through four elimination rounds and then defeating his finals opponent on a 3-0 judge’s decision. Christy was also named sixth speaker in varsity LD debate. Senior Tyler Behymer and sophomore Peyton Gilbert also had good tournaments, with Behymer finishing as a semifinalist and Gilbert as an octofinalist. Additionally, sophomore Eric Martin picked up a winning record in the junior varsity division of LD debate but fell just short of advancing to the final. Martin was named sixth speaker in the division and first year Michael Garrett was named fourth speaker. On Sunday, Christy once again advanced to elimination rounds, this time finishing as a quarterfinalist. He also completed his tournament as a third speaker in varsity LD.
After a very successful weekend at the University of Central Missouri, Truman Forensics picked up seven national qualifications for the NFA Championship Tournament, including Comley in informative, Henrickson in drama and extemporaneous speaking, Martin in LD debate, Radosevic in extemporaneous speaking, Sopko in communication analysis, and Walker in afterdinner Speaking. After only three tournament weekends, the team already has earned 20 qualifications to nationals.
Truman Forensics will return to competition with the Fall Redbird LD Swing, hosted by Illinois State University Nov.17-18.
For more information on how to get involved, visit forensics.truman.edu or contact Christopher Outzen, director of forensics, or Craig Hennigan, assistant director of forensics.
-Courtesy: Truman Today