Roeper Forensics March Madness!

During the past two Saturdays the Roeper High School Forensics team participated in two very high stakes invitational tournaments with amazing results!

On March 11, team members traveled to Novi, with seven of our eight competitors participating in the MSCI Novice States tournament as first-year forensics competitors. All eight were semi-finalists, with Rocco Morrow placing 12^th and Kaitlyn Gruber 11^th in storytelling 9/10, Ilan Ben-Gal 10^th in sales, Vijval Nandigala 9^th in impromptu, Caleb Hoover 3^rd in dramatic interpretation, Oskar Zakonjsek 2^nd in informative, and Hollis Perry placing 2^nd in poetry after being tied for first following the final round. The tie was broken by a single judge’s score! Eli Miller was our sole veteran competitor, placing 6^th in program oral interpretation in the open division, and Roeper’s cumulative efforts earned a second-place sweepstakes trophy.

The forensics in-person invitational season culminated at Walled Lake Western on Saturday, March 18. Over 400 students from across the state participated in this highly competitive event, and impressive performances by all eight team members earned Roeper an incredible first place sweepstakes trophy in the small school division! Cosmo Steffke placed 25^th in sales, Vijval Nandigala was 21^st place in impromptu, Kaitlyn Gruber was 13^th in storytelling 9/10 (missing semis by only one place), and in poetry, Hollis Perry was 23^rd and Signe Smith was a semi-finalist placing 13^th. Three students became tournament finalists. Rocco Morrow was awarded 3^rd in storytelling 9/10, and in duo, Ruby McKeever and Vaughn Roycraft were named duo tournament champions for the second time this season, finishing 1^st place in their category.

We are looking forward to a very busy April with Regionals and MIFA High School States. Tournaments are open to the public, and community members are welcome to attend and cheer on our forensics team. Email forensics@roeper.org for more information if you would like to attend!