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The Hastings College Forensics team continued their streak of being in the top 15 in the nation to 5 years at the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament. The team is now ranked 15th in the entire nation, last year they were 12th.
Kittie Grace, Hastings College Forensics Coach said, “You all (team) should be proud, this was a really tough national tournament. Usually the top 20 starts with 70 points, not over 100 points.
The team also continued their streak to 11 years of being in the top 20 in the nation. The tournament was held at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. The team has been competing against the nation’s top speakers Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
The Broncos had 7 events break into the quarterfinal competition: Senior Alia Mohsen with Prose Interpretation, Persuasive, Informative, and Communication Analysis; Senior Janet Dickey with Impromptu; and Junior Zach Oehm in Prose and Poetry Interpretation.
Mohsen was the only Bronco to make it to the Semi-Finals; with Communication Analysis. She barely missed making the finals; she received fourth in the Semi-Final and needed to be in the top three.
However, Nebraska could make the argument that they are the best speech state in the nation. The state had four schools in the top 15. This is the first year that Nebraska has been able to accomplish this task. Last year there were four schools in the top 20. The University of Nebraska-Omaha finished 13th, Doane College 11th, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln finished in 7th. Nebraska even had the honor of having a speaker finish in the top 20 in individual sweepstakes; Matt Eledge from the University of Nebraska-Omaha finished 19th after he was National-Runner-up in Dramatic Interpretation.
Another award that is given at the AFA-NIET is All-American. The All-American team consists of seniors that have displayed themselves as strong competitors, serving the community with services hours, and serving their colleges with strong grades. Nominations are chosen by first, the District committees and then the National committee. Alia Mohsen and Sara Ninabuck of Hastings College and Zach Blackman of Doane College received this honor. The Hastings Broncos now are one of the top contributors to the All-American team.
This is the last tournament for schools that only compete in the American Forensics Association. The teams have been competing against each other since September. If you would like to learn more about the tournament as well as look at the numbers from the 2009 AFA-NIET please check out their website at http://www.americanforensics.org/
The Hastings College Senior Forensics team will continue their competitive season at the National Forensics Association in Springfield Missouri on April 16th -20th.