C-N Pounds ‘Bama & Seminoles at West Florida Forensics Tournament

14 members of the forensics team boarded a pair of vans Thursday morning and headed for Pensacola, Florida to compete in the University of West Florida’s Marks Invitational forensics tournament. On Saturday evening, they were named the tournament champions.

Carson-Newman’s 343 total points dwarfed second place University of Alabama’s 199 points and third place Florida State University’s 197. Coach Chip Hall was thrilled to see his team fare so well at his alma mater. He said, “This group is coming together at the right time. It’s great to see what they’re able to accomplish.” Senior Faith Rader was particularly successful winning both prose interpretation and dramatic interpretation- a piece where she plays a Jewish boy with Downs Syndrome preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. Faith also placed 6th in duo interpretation and 7th in program oral interpretation. She was named the 3rd best overall speaker at the tournament. Junior Michael Lugo flexed a newly honed skill by winning extemporaneous speaking as well as finishing 2nd in informative speaking. Teammate (and girlfriend) Callie Booher edged him out by winning informative speaking and also finishing 4th in Rhetorical Criticism. Junior Luke Willoughby also won an event- the experimental “forensics criticism” as well as finishing third in impromptu speaking and second in extemporaneous speaking. He was also named the 4th best overall speaker at the tournament, one point behind teammate Rader. All 14 students won at least one award leading to a dominant performance by the team as a whole.

The team won the following awards:

Team Sweepstakes: 1st place: Carson-Newman College 343 2nd place: University of Alabama 199 3rd place: Florida State University 197

Faith Rader: CHAMPION: Prose Interpretation CHAMPION: Dramatic Interpretation 6th place Duo Interpretation 7th place Program Oral Interpretation 3rd place overall speaker

Luke Willoughby: CHAMPION: Forensics Criticism 2nd place Extemporaneous Speaking 3rd place Impromptu Speaking 4th place overall speaker

Michael Lugo: CHAMPION: Extemporaneous Speaking 2nd place Informative Speaking

Callie Booher: CHAMPION: Informative Speaking 4th place Rhetorical Criticism

Kate Doyle: 2nd place Duo Interpretation 3rd place Prose Interpretation 5th place Dramatic Interpretation

Sara McHenry: 2nd place Forensics Criticism 4th place Extemporaneous Speaking 6th place Persuasive Speaking

Alex Davis: 2nd place Duo Interpretation

Rheannah Summers: 3rd place Duo Interpretation 4th place Poetry Interpretation 4th place Prose Interpretation

Jordan Rasnic: 3rd place Duo Interpretation 5th place Poetry Interpretation

Taylor Rasnic: 4th place After Dinner Speaking 6th place Prose Interpretation Quarter-finalist Parliamentary Debate Team

Rebecca Bird: 4th place Persuasive Speaking 6th place Novice Impromptu

Lea Arwood: 6th place Duo Interpretation

Laura-Kate Gonyea: 6th place Rhetorical Criticism