It was a busy weekend for the Gustavus Adolphus College forensics team, as the team participated in the Larry Schnoor Invitational at Minnesota State, Mankato on Saturday, Oct. 16 before turning around and hosting the Bill Robertz Invitational at Gustavus on Sunday, Oct. 17.
The team took first place in the team sweepstakes at the Larry Schnoor Invitational, successfully defending its 2009 title. Gustavus took first place ahead of Illinois State University and Concordia College, Moorhead.
Gustavus also had two competitors place in the top three of the individual sweepstakes as senior Phil Helt took first place, while junior Chloe Radcliffe earned third place.
Helt took first place in both Communication Analysis and Extemporaneous Speaking and then added a second place finish in Informative Speaking, a third place finish in After Dinner Speaking, and a fourth place showing in Impromptu Speaking. Radcliffe took first place in Drama and second place in Prose.
Senior Claire Sagstuen placed in three events including a fourth place finish in Persuasion, a fifth place finish in Extemporaneous Speaking, and a sixth place finish in Informative Speaking.
Junior Kate Bissen took first place in Impromptu Speaking, while first-year student Justin Feit and sophomore Sarah Vanasse combined to take third place in Dramatic Duo.
Vanasse also took second place in Program Oral Interpretation, while sophomore Eric Halvorson took third place in the same event.
Other impressive performances included sophomore Hannah Engel’s fourth place finish in After Dinner Speaking, first-year student Kelsey Abele’s fourth place showing in Poetry, sophomore Chris Moua’s fifth place finish in Impromptu Speaking, sophomore Kaitlin Burlingame’s fifth place finish in Program Oral Interpretation, and sophomore Vanessa Condon’s fifth place finish in Poetry.
On Sunday at the Bill Robertz Invitational, only first-year students from Gustavus competed, while upperclassmen performed hosting duties.
Abele placed in three different events including a third place finish in Program Oral Interpretation, a fifth place finish in Poetry, and a sixth place finish in Prose.
Feit took fourth place in Informative Speaking, while first-year student Shelby Wilds took sixth place in the same event.
The tournament is named in recognition of Dr. Bill Robertz, an emeritus professor of communication studies who taught at Gustavus from 1957 to 1995 and helped foster the forensics program at the College.
For more information about the Gustavus forensics team, go online to gustavus.edu/go/forensics.
Leave a Reply