Team WINS at Berea College

Yesterday, the TSU Forensics team returned home from a very exciting weekend at Berea College in the lovely Berea, Kentucky. The team won first place overall during the first half of the swing tournament, and placed second the second day. TSU Senior Maximilian Cole had an incredible weekend, breaking all of his events to a final round, winning a total of 12 individual awards, and being named the Pentathlon Speaking (overall individual) Champion for both halves of the tournament.

Other highlights include:

• Winning a total of 55 awards and bringing the year award total to 89
• Every team member winning an award
• Breaking every Duo Interpretation and Program of Oral Interpretation on the team
• Winning four of the top six Pentathlon awards at each half of the tournament

Full results following some photographs

Maximilian Cole, Terra Strong, Veronica James, Byron Harvey

Kelli Volk and Wil Taylor

Duo partners Lanial Madden and Chanel Lake

The full Team with just a few of the awards from this weekend

We have almost a month until our next tournament at Belmont University right here in Nashville, but do not assume we will be taking it easy! The team and the Forensics Production Society will be filming their television show "The Eye of the Tiger," performing at the University's Veterans Day program, and possibly opening for the artist Common during his upcoming lecture on campus.

Have a good week, and I'll leave you with the results from Berea:

2010 Berea and Cumberlands Swing, Part One

Hosted by University of the Cumberlands Forensics Alumni

First Place, Large School Team Sweepstakes

Team: Tennessee State University

First Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Maximilian Cole

First Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

First Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Andrea Durham

First Place, Dramatic Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

Second Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Terra Strong

Second Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Maximilian Cole

Second Place, Extemporaneous Speaking

Student: Maximilian Cole

Second Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Maximilian Cole and Terra Strong

Second Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Maximilian Cole

Third Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Byron Harvey

Third Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

Third Place, Novice Impromptu Speaking

Student: Eryn Hall

Third Place, Dramatic Interpretation

Student: Andrea Durham

Third Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Lanial Madden and Chanel Lake

Third Place, Communication Analysis

Student: Maximilian Cole

Fourth Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Wil Taylor

Fourth Place, After Dinner Speaking

Student: Veronica James

Fourth Place, Persuasive Speaking

Student: Kelli Volk

Fourth Place, Communication Analysis

Student: Byron Harvey

Fourth Place, Impromptu Speaking

Student: Maximilian Cole

Fifth Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Byron Harvey

Fifth Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Byron Harvey and Kelli Volk

Fifth Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Lanial Madden

Sixth Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Wil Taylor

Sixth Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Wil Taylor

Seventh Place, Impromptu Speaking

Student: Derrick Johnson

Semi-Finals, Prose Interpretation

Student: Lanial Madden

Semi-Finals, Prose Interpretation

Student: Kelli Volk

Semi-Finals, Prose Interpretation

Student: Derrick Johnson

2010 Berea and Cumberlands Swing, Part Two

Hosted by 2010 Berea College Forensics Team

First Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Maximilian Cole

First Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Terra Strong and Wil Taylor

First Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Maximilian Cole

First Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Maximilian Cole

Second Place, Team Sweepstakes

Team: Tennessee State University

Second Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Wil Taylor

Second Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Wil Taylor and Derrick Johnson

Second Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

Third Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Students: Terra Strong

Third Place, Extemporaneous Speaking

Student: Maximilian Cole

Third Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Byron Harvey

Third Place, Prose Interpretation

Student: Lanial Madden

Third Place, Impromptu Speaking

Student: Maximilian Cole

Third Place, Communication Analysis

Student: Veronica James

Fourth Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Wil Taylor

Fourth Place, Prose Interpretation

Student: Kelli Volk

Fourth Place, Dramatic Interpretation

Student: Andrea Durham

Fourth Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

Fourth Place, Persuasive Speaking

Student: Andrea Durham

Fifth Place, Informative Speaking

Student: Kelli Volk

Fifth Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Megan Miriah Robertson

Sixth Place, Pentathlon Speaking

Student: Byron Harvey

Sixth Place, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Wil Taylor

Semi-Finals, Impromptu Speaking

Student: Derrick Johnson

Top Novice, Poetry Interpretation

Student: Megan Miriah Robertson

Tournament Updates

The competition season and fall semester are now in full swing! We hosted 12 universities on our campus the weekend of September 17-19, and when I get some pictures of the event, I will be sure to post them!

Also, we made our first out-of-state trip last weekend (October 1-2) to Illinois State University. We won some awards, had a great time, and were able to bring a novice competitor to her first forensics tournament ever.

Late last night we returned from the University of Alabama where we had an excellent showing, winning 23 total awards. Some highlights include taking Third Place as a Team at both halves of the tournament (out of 16 universities from across the nation), and Third place overall for the weekend; breaking all of our Duo Interpretation entries, and winning First, Second and Third in the event for the second half of the tournament; breaking every varsity team member into an elimination round; having two competitors win quadrathon (or overall speaker) awards. Full results after the photos!

Our lovely novices: Eryn Hall, Bianca Herron, & Megan Miriah Robertson

The full team with coaches. (front row: l-r) Terra Strong, Maximilian Cole, Kelli Volk, Lanial Madden. (back row: l-r) Coach Emily Kofoed, Coach Jerome Davis, Coach Ben Unanaowo, Veronica James, Byron Harvey, Andrea Durham, Wil Taylor, Chanel Lake, Derrick Johnson, Eryn Hall, Megan Miriah Robertson, Bianca Herron, Coach Kimberley LaMarque

Our competitors in Duo Interpretation

Full results for the weekend:

2010 Alabama Swing, Part One

Hosted by Alabama Forensics Alumni

First Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Terra Strong and Wil Taylor

Second Place, Persuasive Speaking

Student: Kelli Volk

Second Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Byron Harvey

Third Place, Team Sweepstakes

Tennessee State University

Third Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Byron Harvey and Kelli Volk

Fourth Place, Quadrathon Speaking

Student: Andrea Durham

Fourth Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

Sixth Place, Quadrathon Speaking

Student: Byron Harvey

Sixth Place, Persuasive Speaking

Student: Andrea Durham

Semi-Finals, Prose Interpretation

Student: Kelli Volk

2010 Alabama Swing, Part Two

Hosted by 2010 Alabama Forensics Team

First Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Derrick Johnson and Wil Taylor

First Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Byron Harvey

Second Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Terra Strong and Wil Taylor

Third Place, Team Sweepstakes

Tennessee State University

Third Place, Overall Weekend Team Sweepstakes

Tennessee State University

Third Place, After Dinner Speaking

Student: Veronica James

Third Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Terra Strong

Third Place, Duo Interpretation

Students: Chanel Lake and Lanial Madden

Fourth Place, Prose Interpretation

Student: Lanial Madden

Sixth Place, Quadrathon Speaking

Student: Andrea Durham

Sixth Place, Prose Interpretation

Student: Kelli Volk

Sixth Place, Program of Oral Interpretation

Student: Maximilian Cole

Sixth Place, Persuasive Speaking

Student: Kelli Volk

We are looking forward to having Fall break this weekend, and getting a couple of days to rest. For our next tournament we will be traveling to Berea, Kentucky the 22nd and 23rd of October.