BGSU Forensics is NUMBER ONE in the State!!!

We Won!

I am so excited to report that for the first time in thirty-five years, BGSU has won the Ohio Forensics Association’s State Championship! Additionally, we’re proud to have given our coach his first State Championship in his coaching career!

[Above L-R: me, Lew, J*Cole, Kent, Michelle, Sarah, Paul, Tony and Kenny]

Being that a few weeks ago we defended a fifth straight National title, this may not seem like it should be such a big deal, but I’d actually argue that it’s bigger for two main reasons.

First, is the technical obstacle we’ve faced in recent years. OFA rules, which are hopefully soon to change, allow for unlimited entries at the Novice State tournament. Half of each team’s Novice score is added to the Varsity scores to determine an overall state winner. As I explained after the Novice tournament, a certain team in the state has been “flooding” the Novice tournament with speech and acting students, not just team members, and creating a virtually impenetrable lead going into Varsity. This year our Novices placed second in the state and the Varsity team was at a sixty point deficit going into this weekend.

The second obstacle is stylistic. Just as different states typically send certain types of representatives to Miss America, various regions of the country practice Forensics differently. The schools that we compete against at the Collegiate Forensics Association’s National tournament up in Montreal are mostly from New England. To be frank, the style of competition we have here in Ohio is much tougher.

So, knowing what we were up against, our Forensics team went into this tournament with careful event selection and great determination. Unlike the Novice tournament, only your best two competitors in each event could compete, making this tournament the “best of the best.” BGSU sent seven competitors with a total of twenty-six events (which includes three competitors in debate), which means each of us competed in at least three events. I’m excited to report all three events I took “broke," or made it into finals; overall the team “broke” nineteen events, which is seventy-three percent.

Without further ado, our individual results, which include three State Champions, are as follows:

Prose Interpretation
Sarah Griffith- 2nd place
Kenny Rogers- 3rd place

Poetry Interpretation
Jennifer Cole- 3rd place
Abby Bollenbacher- 6th place

Dramatic Interpretation
Kenny Rogers- State Champion (1st place)
Sarah Griffith- 4th place

Dramatic Duo Interpretation
Kenny Rogers/ Jennifer Cole- 2nd place
Lewis B. Smith/ Abby Bollenbacher- 4th place

Informative Speaking
Sarah Griffith- 6th place

After Dinner Speaking
Kenny Rogers- State Champion (1st place)
Jennifer Cole- 3rd place

Persuasion
Kenny Rogers- 4th place
Kent Truckor- 6th place

Rhetorical Criticism
Michelle Baker- State Champion (1st place)

Extemporaneous Speaking
Lewis B. Smith- 3rd place
Michelle Baker- 6th place

Public Relatons Extemporaneous Speaking
(Ohio’s experimentat event)
Abby Bollenbacher- 2nd place
Kent Truckor- 5th place

*I think it’s pretty ironic and notable that this is the third year I’ve been Second in the State at the Experimental Event; last year I took Second in Sales Speaking and my novice year I was Second in Broadcast Journalist... I don’t know whether to be more upset that I never won, or that these great events were never made standard! LOL! (“Experimental” in this case actually means temporary, not possible depending on results.)

Impromptu Speaking
Kent Truckor- 6th place

Trithon
(best of contestants competing in all three genre)
Lewis B. Smith- 4th place
Sarah Griffith- 6th place

Overall team results (Open Division):
Bowling Green State University- State Champion (1st place)
Cedarville University- 2nd place
Kent State University- 3rd place
Ohio University- 4th place

President’s Division (small schools; by competitor number, not actual school size)
Miami Univsity of Ohio- 1st place
Muskingum College- 2nd place
Ohio State University- 3rd place
Heidleburg College- 4th place (tie)
Otterbien Collete- 4th place (tie)
University of Cincinatti- 5th place

BGSU placed 4th in Lincoln Douglas Debate team sweepstakes. Ohio State University won debate as a team, with Otterbien College and Ohio University in between, though I didn’t record the specifics.

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Congrats to our team and coach, Paul Wesly Alday. At dinner afterwards I made a toast to everyone thanking them for the best graduation gift I could ask for. I love this team so much and am so thankful for all they’ve given me.

My press release is as follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 19, 2006

BGSU FORENSICS WINS FIRST OHIO FORENSICS ASSOCIATON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN THIRTY-FIVE YEARS

Contact:
Abby Bollenbacher
PKD Forensics Honorary PR Chair
missmaumeevally@yahoo.com

Paul Wesley Alday
Director of Forensics, BGSU
BGSU4n6@yahoo.com


BGSU FORENSICS WINS FIRST OHIO FORENSICS ASSOCIATON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN THIRTY-FIVE YEARS

BGSU’s Pi Kappa Delta Forensics Honorary is proud to announce the Forensics team captured the Ohio Forensics Association State Championship for the first time since 1971. This past weekend (February 17-18, 2006) seven BGSU students competed in the Varsity State Tournament hosted at Kent State University against students from schools including Cedarville University, Ohio State, Ohio University, Muskingum College and the University of Cincinnati.

The State Title is determined by combining the scores of the Novice State Tournament (held two weeks ago at Ohio State University) and those of the Varsity State Tournament. Unlimited entrants are allowed at the Novice Tournament, where BGSU took Second Place. A university may send only its best two competitors in each of the eleven Individual Events to the Varsity Tournaments. BGSU trailed the leading Novice school by sixty points going into the Varsity tournament, but impressively rose to the challenge to meet and surpass them, clinching the overall title.

BGSU was Fourth in debate and earned twenty-one individual awards at the Varsity Tournament, including three individual State Championships. They are as follows:

[see above, as the formatting used in the Word.doc won't copy here.]

Participants in the Novice State Tournament were Kent Truckor, Sarah Griffith, Anna Adkins, David Fryling, Andrea Brew and Sarah Smith; their individual results from that tournament are available upon request.

Additionally, this was the first state title in coach and executive director of BGSU’s Forensics, Paul Wesley Alday’s eighteen year coaching career. He and volunteer alumni Tony Wise traveled with the team this weekend. For comments or more information, consult the above contact information.