Overall I felt we had a pretty great good tournament despite the lack of numbers because of Homecoming. I commend the students who found ways to make debate a priority on Homecoming weekend. Good for all of you! the net result was that for the second weekend in a row the message got sent that we remain the best PF program in Iowa. Most of you were not there for the Ankeny acceptance of a Co-Championship in PF rather than our girls kicking their butts and dropping them to second place. That allowed Murphy and Lily to make it to the dance.
Nellans and Burke had huge tournaments in both speech and debate. Nellans dropped two ballots in speech (2nd ranks) and otherwise won every round she was in. Burke dropped maybe four ballots total in speech and otherwise was won every round she was in--great job girls.
But the rewarding part of this tournament was the performances of NOVICES. I can't remember a class this successful this early in the year. Jacob and Jade make octos in PF. Rachael, Hannah and Amy make double octos! Wow! Out of 52 teams!
Opponent wins on a debate schedule says a lot. Lily and Murphy faced a 14 with 17 being the toughest pairing. Cumming/Tonelli a 13, Thompson/Miller 13, Cook/Iverson 12, Gruber/Rice 16
Rutledge/Wade 12, and Kitchen/Germovic a 13.
In speech Nellans won EXT, Burke DI, Nellans runner up in OO, and then Burke, Hildebrandt and Porkorny all had place finishes as well. We had several novice just outside of speech final rounds so good job there as well.
