February 21, 2019

SVSU forensics team places second in state contest

The Saginaw Valley State University forensics team continued its record of success during a strong showing at the Michigan Intercollegiate Speech League (MISL) Novice State Championship hosted by Northwood University on Saturday, Feb. 16.

With six other universities in attendance, SVSU's team earned second place in the Team Sweeps category, where the competition is ranked by adding the total combined points earned by each team in the contest's individual categories.

Because of their outstanding performances in those individual categories, four SVSU students qualified for the league's national tournament later this year. Those qualifying students include the following:

• The team of Amber Hadley, a communication major from Marine City; and her partner, Ari Whisman, a special education major from Bay City, placed first in the Duo category.
• Dan Visnovsky, a political science major from Sparta, placed second in the Informative category.
• Jessica Carpenter, an English major, placed fifth in the Poetry category.

The four qualified to compete in the 2019 National Forensics Association National Championships Tournament, scheduled April 18-22, in Santa Ana, California.

The group isn't the first from SVSU to qualify for this year's national tournament. During an October 2018 contest hosted at SVSU, six students qualified. Then, in December 2018, nine more SVSU students earned the same distinction during a competition at Eastern Michigan University.

The next forensics tournament for SVSU is the MISL State Tournament, scheduled Saturday, March 2, at Eastern Michigan University.

The SVSU forensics team is coached by Amy Pierce, associate professor of communication, and Ryan Rigda, lecturer of communication.