Forensics Team Wins NFA National Title

On the heels of its ninth place finish at the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET), the Gustavus Adolphus College forensics team turned in another program-best performance at the National Forensic Association’s (NFA) National Tournament April 19-23 at Ohio University.

Despite sending only six team members to the NFA National Tournament, Gustavus won the President’s Division II national championship and also placed ninth in the Open Sweepstakes team standings. The Gusties amassed 180 points to finish atop the President’s Division II standings, ahead of teams such as California State University-Long Beach, Tennessee State University, Texas State University, Florida State University, Truman State University, and the University of Illinois. The ninth place finish in the Open Sweepstakes marks the first time the program has finished in the top 10 at the NFA National Tournament.

Senior Chloe Radcliffe finished her distinguished collegiate speech career by taking third place out of 255 competitors in the Prose competition. Radcliffe also advanced to the semifinals in Informative Speaking and the quarterfinals in After Dinner Speaking. Junior Kaitlin Burlingame took third place in Forensic Criticism and also advanced to the quarterfinals in Persuasive Speaking. Sophomore Kelsey Abele was also a quarterfinalist in Dramatic Interpretation. Other team members who participated at the NFA National Tournament included seniors Sam Hemmerich and Luke Youngvorst and sophomore Shelby Wilds.

The Gustavus community will have an opportunity to watch members of the forensics team perform when the team hosts its Forensics Showcase at 5 p.m. Monday, May 7 in the Torrey Atrium of Beck Academic Hall.

For more information about the Gustavus forensics team, go online to gustavus.edu/go/forensics or contact Director of Forensics Kristofer Kracht at 507-933-7486 or kkracht@gustavus.edu.