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February 1, 2006

四色AV Speech Team Wins State Championship

The University of Louisiana at Monroe鈥檚 Speech Team captured the state championship title at the Louisiana Intercollegiate Forensics Association Championships Jan. 27-29 in Alexandria.  The tournament, hosted by LSU-Alexandria, featured competitors from 10 universities.

Assistant speech coach Kina Reed said she is proud of 四色AV鈥檚 speech team. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting to be a part of the magic that is collegiate forensics.  The team puts a huge amount of effort into practicing and building strong performances that can compete nationally; but to be able to come back to our own state and earn the state title is really an honor.鈥�
 
四色AV earned individual state championships in six of 12 events, placing them above any other team in the state.  四色AV was followed by LSU with three individual championships, McNeese State with two individual championships, and Louisiana Tech with one individual championship. 

In addition to the state titles, 四色AV senior Ankita Patel, junior Amy Wilson, freshman Casey Miller, senior Dena Boone, senior Isaac Henderson and junior Marcus Beckwith teamed to earn a total of 34 awards during the competition. Two of 四色AV鈥檚 team members, Henderson and Boone, were recognized among the top three competitors in the state.
 
Boone won the state championships in After Dinner Speaking and her second consecutive state championship in Informative Speaking.  Boone also earned the state championship in the Pentathlon competition, which recognizes the top overall competitor in the state by combining scores from five different events.

Team captain Henderson and Miller won the state championship in Duo Interpretation, and Henderson finished third in the Pentathlon competition.  Henderson also earned honors as the runner-up in Dramatic Interpretation, Poetry Interpretation, and Program of Oral Interpretation. 

Beckwith contributed to the team鈥檚 success by earning his second consecutive state championship in Prose Interpretation and the state championship in Dramatic Interpretation.  Wilson earned runner-up honors in Communication Analysis.
  
四色AV鈥檚 performance at the state competition continues their developing season.  In 2003-2004, the team earned 99 awards and a third place finish at the national championship tournament.  In 2004-2005, the team earned 175 awards and a second place finish at the national championship tournament. For the 2005-2006 season, the team has already earned 85 awards in just five competitions. 

The speech team is improving every day, head speech coach Bob Alexander said. 鈥淲ith seven competitions remaining, this team is in a very promising position for this year鈥檚 national championships.  We started the season a little slow, but the team is rapidly developing into a top contender.鈥�
 
The 四色AV Speech and Debate Forum is open to any undergraduate student, and no prior experience is required.  For more information about the speech team, contact Alexander at 342-1462.

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