The Gustavus Adolphus College forensics team won its third straight Minnesota Collegiate Forensics Association State Championship on Sunday, Feb. 21 at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.
Gustavus placed first out of nine teams by amassing 478 points during the two-day tournament. Concordia College took second place with 361 points and Minnesota State University, Mankato ended up in third place with 275 points.
The team was also awarded the Greg Lapanta Quality Award for the second time in the last three years. The award is based on the number of points earned divided by the number of slots entered. Gustavus averaged 9.19 points per event entered to win the award.
Senior Mary Cunningham won a total of four events to claim first place in the Individual Sweepstakes. The first place finish qualifies Cunningham to represent Minnesota at the 2010 Interstate Oratorical Association (IOA) National Contest which is the oldest annual speaking competition in the nation. This marks the sixth consecutive year Gustavus will have a representative at the IOA National Contest and it will be Cunningham’s second appearance after she represented Minnesota in 2008.
Cunningham took first place in Communication Analysis, Informative Speaking, Oratory, and Parliamentary Debate along with partner Claire Sagstuen. She also placed third in Extemporaneous Speaking and sixth place in Impromptu Speaking.
Senior C.J. Hunt took third place in the Individual Sweepstakes be virtue of a first place finish in both Prose and Program Oral Interpretation, and a second place showing in Poetry.
Sophomore Chloe Radcliffe finished fourth in the Individual Sweepstakes after placing second in both Communication Analysis and Drama, third in Program Oral Interpretation, and fifth in Impromptu Speaking.
Senior Emma Moreau placed in three events including a third place in After Dinner Speaking, a fourth place in Impromptu Speaking, and a sixth place in Prose.
Sophomore Sam Hemmerich also placed in three events including a first place in Drama, and fifth place finishes in both Program Oral Interpretation and Prose.
Sophomore Lucas Youngvorst placed in three events as well including a second place finish in Extemporaneous Speaking, a fourth place finish in Informative Speaking, and a fifth place finish in Oratory.
Junior Phil Helt took fifth place in Extemporaneous Speaking and sixth place in Oratory. First-year student Eric Halvorson took first place in Mini Interpretation and first-year Kaitlin Burlingame took second place in the same event.
First-year student Kate Bissen took second place in Informative Speaking and first-year student Christopher Moua took third place in Oratory.
Sagstuen added a third place finish in Impromptu Speaking and Burlingame and sophomore Katie Asfeld combined to take sixth place in Dramatic Duo.
The team is scheduled to take part in the SDSU Bunny Bop Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 27 at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D.
For more information about the Gustavus forensics team, visit the team’s website or contact head coach Kristofer Kracht at 507-933-7486 or kkracht @gustavus.edu.
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