The Alabama Forensic Council (AFC) won two national championships in speech and debate at the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament last weekend. The team won both the Team National Championship for individual events in speech and the Overall Team National Championship which included elements of both speech and debate.
C&IS students Cassidy Duncan, Cortland Stone and Elizabeth Tagg won first place in the Informative Speaking, Dramatic Interpretation and Prose categories respectively. Stone and Tagg also received first place in the Duo Interpretation category.
Since this year’s tournament was held virtually, students were tasked with completing their events online. According to Dr. Benjamin Pyle, director of AFC, the students adapted to the new competition style with ease.
“Our students dove head-first into figuring out how best to make this new competition format work for them to win the national tournaments,” Pyle said. “The Team Championship at the Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament was the first of our three main competitive goals this season. Words cannot contain the amount of pride I hold in my heart for each of my students, graduate assistant coaches, volunteers, alumni and fellow administrators who have fought hard to reach this achievement.”
Additionally, 15 UA students placed in individual events at the tournament. The awards are listed below.
Poetry Interpretation
3rd Place: Cassidy Duncan
Program Oral Interpretation (POI)
3rd place: Elizabeth Tagg
Semifinalist: Casey Buisson
Quarterfinalist: Joslyn Drake
National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA)
Octafinalists: Isaac Sherman and David Zell
Individual Sweeps
2nd place: Cortland Stone
9th place: Isaac Sherman
After Dinner Speaking
6th place: Cassidy Duncan
Semifinalists: Cortland Stone, Anna Kutbay and Sandhu Aladuwaka
Quarterfinalist: Casey Buisson
Communication Analysis
2nd place: Isaac Sherman
Semifinalists: Anna Kutbay and Gentry Slay
Dramatic Interpretation
Champion: Cortland Stone
Extemporaneous Speaking
Semifinalist: Andrew Schmidt
Quarterfinalists: Sandhu Aladuwaka, Anna Kutbay and Isaac Sherman
Top 30%: Gentry Slay
Informative Speaking
3rd place: Sophie Akhtar
Quarterfinalists: Anna Kutbay, Tionna Tate and Isaac Sherman
Top 30%: Garrett Reynolds
Prose
Champion: Elizabeth Tagg
Semifinalist: Casey Buisson
Quarterfinalists: Cortland Stone, Grace McKelvey and Cassidy Duncan
Duo Interpretation
Champions: Elizabeth Tagg and Cortland Stone
2nd place: Sophie Akhtar and Cassidy Duncan
Semifinalists: Grace McKelvey and Casey Buisson
Impromptu
2nd place: Gentry Slay
3rd place: Anna Kutbay
4th place: Sandhu Aladuwaka
Semifinalists: Isaac Sherman
Persuasion
2nd place: Anna Kutbay
4th place: Cassidy Duncan
6th place: Tionna Tate
Semifinalist: Sophie Akhtar
Quarterfinalists: Garret Reynolds and Cortland Stone
The Pi Kappa Delta National Comprehensive Tournament took place Thursday, March 18 through Sunday, March 21. It is the first of three national tournaments the AFC team will compete in this semester.
The Alabama Forensic Council is The University of Alabama’s competitive speech team. As the oldest co-curricular organization on campus, the program aims to respect and build upon the successes of alumni and forge a path for our current and future students. AFC provides students with skills and resources to engage in intellectual discovery, enable professional development, strengthen and utilize their unique voices, construct compelling messages, engage in interpersonal and rhetorical exploration, and foster community through advocacy and argumentation.
