Gustavus Forensics Team Wins State Championship

The Gustavus Adolphus College forensics team recently placed first out of nine schools to win the Minnesota Collegiate Forensics Association State Championship. Gustavus finished with 499 points to beat out Minnesota State University, Mankato (397 points), and Concordia College, Moorhead (144 points).

Gustavus placed first in eight of the twelve events and placed six individuals in the top ten of the individual sweepstakes standings. Sophomores Emma Moreau and Mary Cunningham placed first and second respectively in the individual sweepstakes and will represent Minnesota at the 2008 Interstate Oratorical Association National Contest on April 25 in Madison, Wis.

Moreau took first place honors in both the Impromptu Speaking and Program Oral Interpretation events and placed second in both the Drama and Oratory events.

Cunningham placed first in the Oratory event, second in both Informative Speaking and Impromptu Speaking, and third in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Sophomore Christopher Hunt placed fifth in the individual sweepstakes thanks to a first place finish in After Dinner Speaking and second place finishes in both Poetry and Program Oral Interpretation.

Junior Kavan Rogness placed sixth in the individual sweepstakes after top five finishes in four different events. Rogness placed third in both Drama and Poetry, fourth in Prose, and fifth in Informative Speaking. Rogness also teamed with sophomore Alex Brakke to take second place in the Dramatic Duo event.

Senior Brittney Lovdahl and junior Tasha Carlson won the Dramatic Duo event. Carlson also placed first in the Prose event and fourth in the Drama event, helping her to a tenth place finish in the individual sweepstakes. Lovdahl also placed first in the Communication Analysis event.

Junior Maria Siegle placed sixth or better in four different events on her way to a seventh place finish in the individual sweepstakes. Siegle’s best result was her first place finish in Informative Speaking.

Other key performances included freshman Austin Lafferty’s second place finish in Extemporaneous Speaking and freshman Phil Helt’s third place finish in the Oratory event.

Important upcoming dates for the Gustavus forensics team include March 7-8 when the team will participate in the District IV Qualifying Tournament for the American Forensics Association-National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and April 5-7 when the team will compete in the AFA-NIET at the University of Texas-Austin.