Congratulations to the UT Speech Team and its performance at the 2012 American Forensic Association -National Individual Events Tournament, hosted this year at Texas State University – San Marcos. The team advanced 35 entries to the elimination rounds. Though it was not enough to overtop eventual team champions Bradley University, it was the best performance ever by a UT squad at the AFA contest. This was a very complete team effort. Of the 23 students entered at the tournament, 19 received individual awards (detail below), while senior Christy Liu was also recognized as an All-American and 8th overall speaker. Seniors Christy Liu (Extemp) and William Igbokwe (Persuasion) were awarded UT’s 35th and 36th individual national titles, while Igbokwe also completed his tenure as the 2011-12 National Student Representative to the NIET Executive Council.
A huge thanks goes to the team’s coaches for 2011-12, director Randy Cox, graduate assistants Leah Lefevbre and Brandon Anderson, and alumni Aviva Pinchas, Mary Kate Raffetto, Brendan Chan, Nance Riffe, Bryan Gray, Christopher Mendez, Kevin Chiu, and many others who have provided time and attention throughout the entire year.
2nd place, Overall Team: University of Texas at Austin
National Champion, Extemporaneous Speaking: Christy Liu
National Champion, Persuasive Speaking: William Igbokwe
AFA All-American: Christy Liu
8th place, Overall Speaker: Christy Liu
National Finalists:
National Runner-Up, Impromptu Speaking: Rahul Sangal
3rd place, Persuasive Speaking: Kyle Akerman
3rd place, Extemporaneous Speaking: Daniel Hatoum
4th place, Extemporaneous Speaking: Rahul Sangal
6th place, Extemporaneous Speaking: David Wang
National Semi-Finalists (Top 12 nationally):
Daniel Hatoum, Impromptu Speaking
Christy Liu, Impromptu Speaking
Jaime Garcia, Extemporaneous Speaking
Lario Albarran & Fernando Morales, Duo Interpretation
Jeremy Vandermause & Kevin Giffin, Duo Interpretation
Matt King, Program Oral Interpretation
Chelsea Rodriguez, Program Oral Interpretation
Chelsea Sandlin, Prose Interpretation
Christy Liu, After Dinner Speaking
Taylor Adams, After Dinner Speaking
Alex Hatoum, Informative Speaking
National Quarter-Finalists (Top 24 nationally):
Alex Hatoum, Impromptu Speaking
Jaime Garcia, Impromptu Speaking
William Igbokwe, Extemporaneous Speaking
Jeremy Vandermause & Melissa Lamb, Duo Interpretation
Kyle Akerman, Dramatic Interpretation
Melissa Lamb, Dramatic Interpretation
Nathan Rarick, Dramatic Interpretation
Jeremy Vandermause, Dramatic Interpretation
Kyle Akerman, Poetry Interpretation
Melissa Lamb, Prose Interpretation
Kevin Giffin, Prose Interpretation
William Igbokwe, After Dinner Speaking
Daniel Hatoum, After Dinner Speaking
Rahul Sangal, Communication Analysis
Colin Malinak, Communication Analysis
Kyle Akerman, Informative Speaking
Nathan Rarick, Informative Speaking