UK Forensics Wins Horned Frog Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 12, 2015) — For the first time in team history, the University of Ketnucky Forensics team traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, to take part in the For the Sake of Argument swing tournament at Texas Christian University (TCU).

The competition featured a parliamentary and public debate tournament on Friday and two separate individual event tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. TCU hosted the first individual events tournament which was known as the Horned Frog Invitational after the university's mascot. The second day was titled the Wildcat Invitational as was hosted by UK. The schools partnered to host the debate portion of the swing tournament.

UK Forensics won a razor slim competition for first place in team sweepstakes over the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Texas at Austin. Less than five points separated the top three teams. In individual sweepstakes, seniors Abel Rodriguez III and Logan Hurley placed first and third respectively. Additionally, the team earned five qualifications for the National Forensic Association national tournament and placed fifth in debate sweepstakes.

The following individual performances made this success possible:

After Dinner Speaking

2^nd Place – Abel Rodriguez III

Drama Interpretation

4^th Place – Kaylon Kennedy

5^th Place – Rachel Brase

Duo Interpretation

1^st Place – Logan Hurley and Brynne Reilly

Extemporaneous Speaking

1^st Place – Abel Rodriguez III

Impromptu Speaking

1^st Place – Abel Rodriguez III

Informative Speaking

4^th Place – Logan Hurley

Parliamentary Debate

Quarterfinalists – Brynne Reilly and Talha Muhammad

2^nd Place Speaker – Brynne Reilly

Poetry Interpretation

1^st Place – Abel Rodriguez III

Program Oral Interpretation

2^nd Place – Kaylon Kennedy

5^th Place – Brynne Reilly

Public Debate

Semifinalist – Logan Hurley

2^nd Place Speaker – Logan Hurley

3^rd Place Speaker – Abel Rodriguez III

Rhetorical Criticism

2^nd Place – Logan Hurley

The University of Kentucky Forensics Team’s next competition will be the Bluegrass Invitational speech and debate tournament Oct. 10-11 on the UK campus.

Anyone interested in judging or observing this event should contact the Director of Forensics Timothy Bill (timothy.bill@uky.edu) for more information.

UK Forensics is a student organization in the School of Information Science. The team competes in 12 different public speaking events and three forms of  debate. To find out more, visit ukforensics.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: Blair Hoover, (859) 257-6398; blair.hoover@uky.edu