The Boise State Speech and Debate team began their national championship season with first-place in debate sweepstakes and second-place in overall sweepstakes at the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament hosted by Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The tournament featured over 1,000 entries from over 50 schools including Rice University, University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, University of Texas at El Paso, Arizona State University, Hofstra University and University of California San Diego
In open public debate, Adam Pendergrass (sophomore, Nampa) was the tournament champion, advancing undefeated through four final rounds of debate. Allie Hampton (junior, Meridian) finished as a quarterfinalist and Anthony Thomas (junior, Meridian) finished as an octo-finalist. Pendergrass received the sixth-place speaker award.
In junior public debate, Bridget Gibson (sophomore, Boise) and Arianna Ashby (freshman, Idaho Falls) closed out the final bracket and finished in first and second-place, with Gibson receiving the fourth-place speaker award. Chloe Sellers (junior, Twin Falls) and Sam Kleman (sophomore, Boise) finished as octo-finalists with Sellers winning the fifth-place speaker award
In novice public debate, Cadence Marang (sophomore, Nampa) finished as an octo-finalist.
In the tournament pentathlon, Boise State had three of the tournament’s top 10 competitors, with Ashby taking sixth-place overall, Hampton taking seventh-place overall, and Pendergrass taking ninth-place overall.
In individual events, Hampton led the Talkin’ Broncos with first-place finishes in both editorial impromptu and student scholarship, was a quarter-finalist in both informative speaking and persuasive speaking, and received excellent awards in extemporaneous speaking and extemporaneous commentary. Jesse Madison (freshman, Meridian) took first-place in to honor, was a quarter-finalist in informative speaking, and received an excellent award in extemporaneous speaking.
Other top competitors included: Ashby, who took sixth-place in extemporaneous speaking, was a semi-finalist in impromptu speaking, a quarter-finalist in both informative speaking and editorial impromptu, and received an excellent award in extemporaneous commentary; Ivan Markevych (sophomore, Kremenchuk, Poltava region, Ukraine), who took fifth-place in extemporaneous commentary; Thomas, who was a semi-finalist in impromptu speaking and a quarter-finalist in persuasive speaking; Sellers, who was a quarter-finalist in informative speaking and received excellent awards in extemporaneous commentary, extemporaneous speaking, and podcasting; Kleman, who was a quarter-finalist in communication analysis and received an excellent award in extemporaneous commentary; Jaxon Holmes (sophomore, Garden City), who received excellent awards in prose interpretation, extemporaneous commentary, and impromptu speaking; Ryan Wind (sophomore, Meridian), who received excellent awards in extemporaneous speaking, extemporaneous commentary, and impromptu speaking; Gibson, who received excellent awards in podcasting, editorial commentary, and impromptu speaking; and Marang, who received an excellent award in podcasting and was the tournament’s top novice in the event.
The Talkin’ Broncos continue their 2024-2025 national season with their last tournament at Lee University in April 2025. The Talkin’ Broncos are supported in part through the generosity of the Jeker Family Trust. For more information about the Talkin’ Broncos, Manda Hicks, director of forensics at mandahicks@boisestate.edu