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The Rice Thresher
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by BEN WESTON THRESHER STAFF Brown College senior Hiren Patel won national championships in two speech events at the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament last weekend, pushing the forensics team's total number of national championships in individual events for the year to 11. Patel won the informative speaking and extemporaneous speaking events and made the semifinals in persuasive speaking. He finished the weekend with the eighth-most points of any individual at the tournament. "Winning a national championship is so amazingly difficult that you can't expect anyone to do it," captain and Brown senior Scott Nilsen said. "It's an incredible accomplishment." Brown sophomore Chas Cahn made the quarterfinals in informative speaking while Sid Richardson College freshman Bernadette Cadena broke into the quarterfinal round in poetry interpretation. Though Rice only competed in 22 of the 38 events in which team members qualified, the team placed 14th overall, up from 16th last year. In addition, the 11 championships garnered this year match the total number won by the forensics team in the previous six years combined, George R. Brown Forensics Society coach Dan West said. "I think they did phenomenally well, considering only half of the team went," West said. West said the tournament was optional for team members because of the team's tragic van accident last month in which Baker College freshman Dan Henning was killed. "[The accident] is not something that they're going to get over tomorrow," West said. "This is a major event in their lives." West was asked to give a eulogy for Henning at the tournament's banquet to help the forensics community cope with the loss. Hanszen College sophomore Brook Ames and Lovett College sophomore Jitu Sardar, both of whom were injured in the March 13 accident, did not attend the tournament. Each had qualified to compete for the national championship in five events. Ames was released from the hospital two weeks ago and is currently recovering from a broken femur at his home in Maine. The team traveled to the tournament, held the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, by chartered bus. Because of the recent accident, West said he does not yet feel comfortable driving a van, so he approached Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Cathi Clack about alternate forms of transportation. "It made us feel safer and more comfortable," West said. Though the tournament brought back memories of the previous tournament and ensuing accident, West said he is glad the team still attended. "The hardest thing to do, and the most important, is to move on," he said. - back - |
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