The Boise State University speech and debate team began the 2009-2010 season with familiar flare by taking two sweepstakes awards in their first two meets of the year.

The Talking Broncos walked away with overall team sweepstakes at the Golden Eagle Invitational in Twin Falls, Sept. 25-26 and again topped an impressive field of 28 teams at the Pioneer Invitational, hosted by Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., Oct. 9-11.

At the Pioneer Invitational, participating universities included the University of Oregon, the University of Washington, the University of Portland, the University of Puget Sound, Oregon State University, Western Washington University, McNeese State University (Louisiana), the College of Idaho and others.

“This was a tough tournament from start to finish,” said David Bailey, coach of the Talking Broncos and director of forensics at Boise State. “The level of competition we encountered was really quite formidable for this early in the season. We are proud of the team for the hard work they did to make this a successful endeavor.”

Here are a few highlights from the Pioneer Invitational:

• The debate team of Dawn Jones (Lewiston) and Josh Watkins (Boise) reached the semi-finals of novice parliamentary debate, while the team of Mallory Douraghi (Dana Point, Calif.) and Devon Madsen (Boise) reached the quarterfinals. Watkins took first place in novice parliamentary debate, while Jones took fourth and Madsen placed eighth.
• Regan Charlton (Inkom) won first place in the open division of informative speaking and communication analysis. She also won second place in duo interpretation with partner Ben Larsen (Malta) and placed third in persuasive speaking
• Sam Pagano (Sandy, Ore.) took first place in program of oral interpretation and in poetry interpretation. Pagano also took third place in open informative speaking and open extemporaneous speaking.
• Emil Huseynov (Bake, Azerbaijan) took second place in open informative speaking, fourth place in communication analysis and fifth place in persuasive speaking.
• Debra Groberg (Idaho Falls) placed fifth in poetry interpretation.
• Watkins placed third in communication analysis, fifth in after dinner speaking and fifth in duo interpretation with partner Monica Cutler (Fairfield).
• George Fenton (Post Falls) placed second in persuasive speaking and sixth in the junior division of extemporaneous speaking.
• Cutler placed fifth in the junior division of prose interpretation and fifth in duo interpretation with partner Watkins.
• Madsen placed third in the junior division of prose interpretation.
• Erik Sande (Boise) placed first in after dinner speaking.
• Kyle Bidwell (Sumner, Wash.) placed fourth in program of oral interpretation.
• Reggie Holmquist (Boise) placed third in the junior division of informative speaking and fourth in junior impromptu speaking.
• New team member Jon Agnew (Idaho Falls) placed fifth in the junior division of informative speaking.

At the Golden Eagle Classic held at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, the Talking Broncos faced tough competition in debate and individual speech events from Northwest Nazarene University, Snow College (Utah), the College of Western Idaho and their hosts the College of Southern Idaho.

Highlights included:

• Bidwell and Charlton “closed out” (took first and second places respectively) the open division of international public debate.
• Groberg took third place in international public debate.
• Fenton and Watkins “closed out” the novice division of international public debate.
• Douraghi reached the quarter-finals of novice public debate.
• Charlton earned first place informative speaking, communication analysis and duo interpretation with her partner Larsen. She also received third place in extemporaneous speaking.
• Groberg earned a second place finish in poetry interpretation, a third place finish in dramatic interpretation, and honorable mentions in both extemporaneous speaking and informative speaking
• Bidwell finished second place in both impromptu and extemporaneous speaking.
• Pagano took first place in poetry interpretation, third place in program of oral interpretation, fourth place in extemporaneous speaking and a fourth place in impromptu speaking.
• Larsen took first place in duo interpretation with his partner Charlton and second place in dramatic interpretation.
• Sande won second place in after dinner speaking and fourth place in persuasive speaking.
• Huseynov took first place in persuasive speaking and received honorable mention in both extemporaneous speaking, informative speaking, and impromptu speaking.
• Fenton took home first place in extemporaneous speaking, second place in informative speaking and third place in persuasive speaking.
• Jones took second in persuasive speaking, third place in communication analysis and after dinner speaking and received an honorable mention in impromptu speaking.
• Watkins took second place in prose interpretation, second place in communication Analysis, third place in duo interpretation with partner Cutler and received an honorable mention in extemporaneous speaking.
• James Ickes (Caldwell) received third place in poetry interpretation.

For more information on the Boise State Forensics program, please contact David Bailey, director of forensics, at dcbailey@boisestate.edu (208) 426-1928.

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Media Contact: Mike Journee, University Communications, (208) 426-1517, mikejournee@boisestate.edu

THE NEW U RISING: Boise State University has been selected among the nation’s “top up-and-coming schools” in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” issue. Recognized for its striking improvements and innovations, Boise State is ranked No. 3 in the West among master’s degree institutions.