The Pi Kappa Delta National Championship Boise State Speech and Debate team, the Talkin’ Broncos, started their 2021-2022 season with a return to live competition at the recent Fran Tanner Open at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.
The team won first-place overall in sweepstakes and swept two categories of individual events with the gold, silver, and bronze wins. The tournament marks the first in-person competition for the Talkin’ Broncos since January, 2020.
Winners included:
Brian Del Toro (senior, Boise) had Boise State’s top winning debate record, received the ninth-place speaker award in Public Debate, took gold in both extemporaneous speaking and impromptu speaking, and was named the tournament’s top competitor in both speech and debate events. Madison Martin (junior, Oceanside, California) was the tournament’s top debater with the first-place speaker award, had the ninth-place winning record, and took gold in prose interpretation.
Sergio Sarmiento (senior, Nampa) had the eighth-place winning record in debate and won gold in poetry interpretation and bronze in extemporaneous speaking. Ethane Ricks (sophomore, Idaho Falls) had the tenth-place winning record in debate, received the sixth-place speaker award in debate, and took silver in duo interpretation.
Dylan Pope (junior, Blackfoot) had the eleventh-place winning record in debate, received the seventh-place speaker award, took silver in extemporaneous speaking, and won gold in communication analysis. Gabe Guerrero (senior, Shelley) received the eleventh-place speaker award in debate and took bronze in poetry interpretation.
Other top competitors included:
Alma Ceja (senior, Hailey) who took gold in duo interpretation and silver in prose interpretation; Edson Valdisimo (senior, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), who took gold in duo interpretation and silver in poetry interpretation; Julia Maas (senior, Meridian) who took gold in impromptu speaking and silver in extemporaneous speaking; Brie Ellison (senior, Eagle), who took gold in program oral interpretation; Ethan Romriell (senior, Mineola, New York), who took silver in dramatic interpretation; Josh Young (senior, Meridian), who took silver in duo interpretation; Zac Maggard (senior, Nampa), who took silver in impromptu speaking; and Allison Hurst (sophomore, Boise), who took bronze in impromptu speaking.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2021-2022 season with their first conference tournament, the Steve Hunt Invitational in Portland, Oregon Oct. 8–10.
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 Manda Hicks, director of forensics at Boise State, at mandahicks@boisestate.edu