AUSTIN, Texas—The University of Texas at Austin will show its victory colors Tuesday (April 16) when the Tower lights are illuminated orange and white in celebration of the university’s national championship in forensic competition.
The Tower lights will glow white at the top with orange and a white number one on the sides of the building. The lighting celebrates the success of the Individual Events Team that won the American Forensic Association National Individual Events Tournament last weekend at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., for the second consecutive year. The competition involved 95 schools from throughout the country and students from The University of Texas at Austin won the honor for the fourth time in the last nine years.
The team also won honors for having the top overall speaker/performer in the nation. The winner, senior Bonny McDonald, became the first student in the history of the national tournament to advance to final rounds in all three areas, including public address, limited preparation and performance of literature.
Individual honors were won by the following students:
- Bonny McDonald: National Champion Individual Sweepstakes
National finalists:
- Bonny McDonald, third place in prose interpretation, third in dramatic interpretation, fourth in persuasion and sixth in impromptu speaking
- Mana Hamid, fourth place, program oral interpretation
- Jimmy Ficaro, fourth place, informative speaking
- Chad Crowson, fifth place, communication analysis
- Will Bridges and Bobby Greene, sixth place, dramatic duo
- Kristyn Meyer, sixth place, informative
National semifinalists:
- Daphne Brashear, extemporaneous speaking
- Kristyn Meyer, prose interpretation
- Jimmy Ficaro, impromptu speaking
- Bryan Gray, extemporaneous speaking
National quarterfinalists:
- Informative: Kelly Byrne, Frank Rivera and Chad Crowson
- Impromptu: Bryan Gray
- Extemporaneous: Jimmy Ficaro
- Persuasion: Chad Crowson
- Program oral interpretation: Kris Barnett and Bonny McDonald
- After-Dinner: Kristyn Meyer
- Poetry: Bonny McDonald and Kristyn Meyer
- Dramatic interpretation, Frank Rivera and Bobby Greene
