Forensics Team Wins State Championship Posted on February 20th, 2012 by Matt Thomas '00

The Gustavus forensics team won the program's fourth ever Minnesota Collegiate Forensics Association state championship on Sunday, Feb. 19.

The Gustavus Adolphus College forensics team won its fourth Minnesota Collegiate Forensics Association state championship on Sunday, Feb. 19 at Bethel University in Arden Hills, Minn. The Gusties won the overall team sweepstakes by totaling 494 points. Concordia College, Moorhead finished second with 333 points, while Minnesota State University, Mankato placed third with 220 points.

Gustavus had two individuals place in the top three in the individual sweepstakes as senior Chloe Radcliffe took first place for the second time in her college career, while senior Sam Hemmerich placed third.

Radcliffe took first place in Prose Interpretation and also paired with first-year student Brady Mueller to win the state championship in the Dramatic Duo category. Radcliffe also placed second in After Dinner Speaking, Program Oral Interpretation and Dramatic Interpretation, and added a sixth place showing in Informative Speaking.

Chloe Radcliffe '12

Hemmerich won the state championship in Poetry Interpretation and also placed second in Informative Speaking, third in Dramatic Interpretation, and fifth in Dramatic Duo along with sophomore Kelsey Abele. Abele also won the state championship in Dramatic Interpretation.

Senior Luke Youngvorst won the state championship in Impromptu Speaking. Youngvorst also added a second place finish in Oratory, which qualifies him to represent Minnesota at the 2012 Interstate Oratorical Association National Contest, the oldest speaking competition in the country. This marks the seventh consecutive year Gustavus will have a representative at the IOA National Contest. This year’s 143^rd annual event will be hosted by Emerson College in Boston, Mass., on April 27-28.

Sophomore Shelby Wilds won the state championship in Communication Analysis, took fifth place in Oratory, and was an octafinalist in the Parliamentary Debate contest along with first-year student Brittany Knutson.

Luke Youngvorst '12

First-year student Karin Nordin won the state championship in Minnesota Informative Speaking, while first-year students Carrie Brobst and Joshua Zellar placed second and sixth respectively in the same category.

Junior Chris Moua took third place in Poetry Interpretation and fifth place in Communication Analysis. Sophomore Kate Spaulding placed third in Oratory and fifth in Impromptu Speaking.

Other top performances included sophomore Mariecus Jarvis’ second place finish in Poetry Interpretation, junior Kaitlin Burlingame’s third place finish in Program Oral Interpretation, first-year student Jerica Massey’s fourth place finish in Prose Interpretation, junior Hannah Engel’s fourth place finish in Oratory, Knutson’s fourth place finish in After Dinner Speaking, sophomore Sonja Johnson’s fourth place finish in Extemporaneous Speaking, and first-year students Courtney Train and Jason Dennis’ sixth place showing in Dramatic Duo.

Sam Hemmerich '12

The team will now turn its attention to preparing for the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET). The AFA-NIET District IV Qualifying Tournament will be held March 9-10 at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The AFA-NIET Tournament will take place April 6-9 at Texas State University.

For more information about the Gustavus Forensics Program, go online to gustavus.edu/go/forensics or contact Director of the Forensics Program Kristofer Kracht at kkracht@gustavus.edu.

###

Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510