The Pi Kappa Delta National Championship Boise State Speech and Debate team started their 2020-21 season winning the first online synchronous tournament in their 83-year history. The win marks their eighth-consecutive tournament championship at the Fran Tanner Open hosted Sept. 25-26 by the College of Southern Idaho.
The Talkin’ Broncos won first-place in Overall Sweepstakes at the tournament, which included competitors from Utah State University, Seton Hall University, Casper College, Weber State, Northwest Nazarene University, College of Western Idaho, College of Southern Idaho, Lower Columbia College, Idaho State University and University of Idaho.
“Moving online has been incredibly difficult – for competition, but even more so for preparation and practice,” said Manda Hicks, director of forensics. “Their performance at this tournament is a good start to a year that is sure to be a strange and challenging.”
In Open Public Debate, Boise State had five of the eight top seeds, with top seed Kevin Trombly (senior, Boise) winning the tournament debate championship as well as the second-place speaker award. Alex Watt (senior, Boise) advanced to finals and received the third-place speaker award. Julia Maas (junior, Meridian) and Porter Haux (junior, Meridian) were a Boise State close-out in their shared final bracket, with Maas receiving the ninth-place speaker award. Dylan Pope (sophomore, Blackfoot) advanced to finals and won the eleventh-place speaker award. Other speaker awards included: Brie Ellison (junior, Eagle), in fourth place; Gabe Guerrero (junior, Shelley) in fifth place; Madison Martin (sophomore, Oceanside, California) in seventh place; and Brian Del Toro (junior, Boise) in eighth place.
In Novice Public Debate, top seed Sara Beck (freshman, Idaho Falls) was the tournament debate champion and received the second-place speaker award. Ethane Ricks (freshman, Idaho Falls) advanced to finals and won the tenth-place speaker award. Alison Hurst (freshman, Boise) won the eleventh-place speaker award.
In Individual Events, Trombly and Bryce Funkhauser (senior, Meridian) led the Talkin’ Broncos with Trombly winning second place in both editorial commentary and impromptu speaking, third place in program oral interpretation, and fifth place in extemporaneous speaking, and Funkhauser winning first place in communication analysis, second place (a tie) in after dinner speaking, sixth place in extemporaneous speaking, and a finalist award in impromptu speaking.
Other top competitors include: Watt, who took first place in duo interpretation, fifth place in prose interpretation, and was a finalist in extemporaneous speaking; Josh Young (junior, Meridian) who took first place in both prose interpretation and duo interpretation; Martin, who took first place in editorial commentary and second place in duo interpretation; Alma Ceja (senior, Hailey), who took first place in program oral interpretation and second place in duo interpretation; Maas, who took third place in impromptu speaking, fourth place in editorial commentary, sixth place in persuasive speaking, and was a finalist in extemporaneous speaking; Del Toro, who took third place in extemporaneous speaking, and fifth place in both persuasive speaking and impromptu-speaking; Sergio Sarmiento (junior, Nampa), who received second place (a tie) in after dinner speaking, third place in prose interpretation, and sixth place in program oral interpretation; Guerrero, who took third place in both informative speaking and communication analysis; Pope, who took second place in communication analysis and was a finalist in extemporaneous speaking; Ricks, who took second place in program oral interpretation; Edson Valdisimo (sophomore, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), who took third place in poetry interpretation and fifth place in dramatic interpretation of literature; Ellison, who took fourth place in program oral interpretation; Haux, who took fifth place in editorial commentary; and Beck, who took fifth place in program oral interpretation.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2020-21 season with their first conference tournament, the Steve Hunt Invitational, hosted by Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. The Talkin’ Broncos are the 2019-20 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 Manda Hicks, director of forensics at Boise State at mandahicks@boisestate.edu