The Hastings College Speech Team traveled to Brookings, South Dakota, for its district tournament and qualified five more events to nationals. Over the season, the team qualified 45 events to nationals, the AFA-NIET, which is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, April 5-7.
First-year student Claire Nelson qualified Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking, first-year student Chloe Carson qualified Program Oral Interpretation and After Dinner Speaking, and first-year student Conner Taylor qualified Program Oral Interpretation.
Senior Carly Spotts-Falzone was named All-American, which honors students who excel in the areas of volunteering, education and competitive forensics. She also received the Kevin Heineman District Student Award, honoring students who display excellence and kindness both inside and outside of rounds.
The Hastings College Forensics Team will hold its annual showcase April 1 in the Hazelrigg Student Union Rooms A, B and C at 7:00 p.m. Each member of the team will perform one event that will be going to the AFA-NIET. The showcase is free and open to the public.
The results from this past weekend are as follows.
Friday, March 8
- Sam Johnson, a first-year student from Hastings, Nebraska, placed third in Extemporaneous Speaking and sixth in Communication Analysis.
- Conner Taylor, a first-year student from Omaha, Nebraska, placed fourth in Program Oral Interpretation and fourth in Prose Interpretation.
- Claire Nelson, a first-year student from Bagley, Minnesota, placed first in Impromptu Speaking and second in Extemporaneous Speaking (qualifying at large for the AFA-NIET).
- Chloe Carson, a first-year student from Eagan, Minnesota, placed third in Program Oral Interpretation and fourth in After Dinner Speaking.
- Sam Burke, a sophomore from Denver, Colorado, placed third in Poetry Interpretation.
Hastings College placed third in Team Sweepstakes for the day.
Saturday, March 9
- Sam Johnson, a first-year student from Hastings, Nebraska, placed fourth in Extemporaneous Speaking (serving as the first alternate for the AFA-NIET) and fifth in Communication Analysis (serving as the second alternate for the AFA-NIET).
- Conner Taylor, a first-year student from Omaha, Nebraska, placed fourth in Program Oral Interpretation (qualifying through districts for the AFA-NIET).
- Claire Nelson, a first-year student from Bagley, Minnesota, placed fourth in Impromptu Speaking (qualifying through districts for the AFA-NIET).
- Chloe Carson, a first-year student from Eagan, Minnesota, placed second in Program Oral Interpretation (qualifying at-large for the AFA-NIET) and second in After Dinner Speaking (qualifying at-large for the AFA-NIET).
- Sam Burke, a sophomore from Denver, Colorado, placed fifth in Poetry Interpretation (serving as first-alternate for the AFA-NIET).
- Carly Spotts-Falzone, a senior from Wayzata, Minnesota, was named to the All-American team and given the Kevin Heineman Student District Award.
The Hastings College forensics team continues a long-running tradition of national competitive success, placing in the top 20 at the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament (AFA-NIET) for many of the past ten years. Most recently, Hastings College placed 8th at AFA-NIET 2018.
Hastings College is a private, four-year institution located in Hastings, Nebraska, that focuses on student academic and extracurricular achievement. Hastings College has been named among “Great Schools, Great Prices” by U.S. News & World Report and a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review. For more, go to hastings.edu.
