The Bronco forensics team has been working their vocal cords off since the start of their season back in October. Forensics is a combination of competitive speech and debate and emphasizes professionalism and presentation by competitors.
Last weekend the team suited up for the state competition, considered one of the hardest in the district because of power players UNL, UNO, Doane, and Hastings. The Broncos took second place overall to the Huskers. "We took third place in debate, with novice debaters, with James Duin and Trevor Brass. Trevor actually won the top novice award," said Kittie Grace, head forensics coach.
Most of the team went to the tournament at Doane University in Crete. A closer drive meant the team could take more competitors. The team is mostly underclassmen, but has qualified 15 events for nationals. Qualifiers include Corey Reutlinger, Kelsi Potts, Mike Dvorak, Trevor Brass, Curt Casper, Zach Oehm and Pat White.
" We are way behind where we normally are for this time of year. We usually have right around 20-25 but there are a number of events that have two legs so they're moving towards qualification pretty fast," Grace said.
Freshman Matt Cashoili currently has four events on two legs. Legs are essentially a record of how many times an individual competitor has placed in the top three of their event. Cashoili has placed in the top three twice in each of his four events. "I am getting very close to qualifying. I need one [leg] for every single one, " Cashoili said. Brass is one of the younger competitors heading to Eau Claire, Wisc. for the seven day American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament.
He qualified in extemporaneous and impromptu speaking. " I'm really excited to go to Eau Claire, although I'm not happy about missing school. That and calculus..." Brass said. Both extemporaneous and impromptu are limited preparation events, where the competitor has a timed period in which to prepare and give their speech. Extemp has a half hour for preparation and seven minutes for speaking. Impromptu must be prepped and given in seven minutes.
Fellow extemper senior Curt Casper is also excited as one of the few upper classmen leading the team to Wisconsin.
"We just gotta make sure we keep the momentum going. We have 11 events on two legs, if we can get at least half of those qualified, I think we stand a shot. Ultimately the goal is to get 33, " Casper said.
The team is working to get those events qualified with only two weekends left of season competition and districts. Though quantity of events is still being improved, Grace said she is not concerned about the quality of events the Broncos have headed to Wisconsin.
"They've been put through the wringer hard. I know that the events that are qualified are quality events heading to AFA, " Grace said.
