The Boise State Speech and Debate team continue their undefeated 2024-2025 season with a first-place overall sweepstakes finish at the 94th Annual Mahaffey Memorial Tournament hosted by Linfield University in McMinville, Oregon, Nov. 15-17. The tournament is one of the oldest in the country and featured competitors from all over the Northwest Forensics Conference.
In open public debate, Kiryn Willet (junior, Boise) was the tournament champion, advancing through four single-elimination outrounds for the win. Anthony Thomas (junior, Meridian) finished as a quarterfinalist and received the fifth-place speaker award. Allie Hampton (junior, Meridian) finished as an octo-finalist and received the second-place speaker award.
In junior public debate, Adam Pendergrass (sophomore, Nampa) and Ari Ashby (freshman, Idaho Falls) closed out the semi-finalist bracket for a Boise State tournament championship, with Pendergrass receiving the fourth-place speaker award and Ashby receiving the sixth-place speaker award. Sam Kleman (freshman, Boise) finished as a quarterfinalist. Chloe Sellers (junior, Twin Falls) finished as an octo-finalist and took the second- place speaker award. Angel Dang (sophomore, Idaho Falls) finished as an octo-finalist and took the third-place speaker award. Bridget Gibson (sophomore, Boise) and Ryan Wind (sophomore, Meridian) both finished as octo-finalists. Jaxon Holmes (sophomore, Garden City) received the fifth-place speaker award.
In novice public debate, Cadence Marang (sophomore, Nampa) and Jesse Madison (freshman, Meridian) closed out the semi-finalist bracket for a Boise State tournament championship, with Marang receiving the third-place speaker award and Madison receiving the ninth-place speaker award.
In individual events, Hampton let the Talkin’ Broncos with a first-place finish in persuasive speaking, second-place in prose interpretation, third-place in informative speaking, and fourth place in extemporaneous speaking. In junior division, Dang took first-place in prose interpretation and fourth-place in extemporaneous speaking, impromptu speaking, and informative speaking. Both Hampton and Dang were the tournament’s second-place overall competitors in their respective divisions. In junior division, Pendergrass took first-place in duo interpretation and extemporaneous speaking, second-place in persuasive speaking, and fourth-place in prose interpretation while Holmes took first-place in duo interpretation, second-place in impromptu speaking and fifth-place in prose interpretation. Wind took first-place in bad AI interpretation, second-place in prose interpretation, and third-place in after dinner speaking. Ashby took first-place in informative speaking and fifth-place in extemporaneous speaking. Kleman took first place in communication analysis and third-place in prose interpretation. In novice division, Madison took first-place in informative speaking.
Other top competitors included: Sellers, who took second-place in junior after dinner speaking, third-place in junior extemporaneous speaking and sixth-place in bad AI interpretation; Thomas, who took third-place in both persuasive speaking and bad AI interpretation; Marang, who took third-place in novice prose interpretation and fifth-place in novice extemporaneous speaking; Gibson, who took fifth-place in program oral interpretation; and Ivan Markevych (sophomore, Kremenchuk, Poltava region, Ukraine) who was a finalist in bad AI interpretation.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2024-2025 season with their third designated conference tournament at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, in January 2025. The Talkin’ Broncos 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.