This release was prepared and written by Director of Forensics, Timothy Bill.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (November 18, 2015) – The University of Kentucky Forensics Team took part in the 10^th annual Tennessee Porch Swing tournament held jointly by Carson-Newman University and Belmont University. The three day event consisted of a debate tournament and two separate speech tournaments. UK ranked third over the course of the entire swing tournament which was a significant improvement from the fifth place performance the previous year. Additionally, UK won the debate portion of the competition.

The following individual performances contributed to the team’s success at Carson-Newman University:

Tennessee Porch Swing Debate Tournament

Friday November 13

Novice Parliamentary Debate

Quarterfinalists – Matt Karijolic and Talha Muhammad

Open Parliamentary Debate

1^st Place – Logan Hurley and Abel Rodriguez III

Semifinalists – Rachel Brase and Kaylon Kennedy

Debate Speaker Awards

2^nd Place – Abel Rodriguez III

4^th Place – Logan Hurley

6^th Place – Rachel Brase

Carson-Newman University Speech Tournament

Saturday November 14

Pentathlon

3^rd Place – Abel Rodriguez III

6^th Place – Rachel Brase

After Dinner Speaking

4^th Place - Abel Rodriguez III

Duo Improvisation

3^rd Place - Rachel Brase and Kaylon Kennedy

6^th Place - Brynne Reilly and Megan Wagner

Duo Interpretation

4^th Place - Rachel Brase and Megan Wagner

Impromptu Speaking

2^nd - Abel Rodriguez III

Semifinalist - Logan Hurley

Informative Speaking

Top Novice – Matt Karijolic

Persuasive Speaking

Top Novice – Talha Muhammad

Poetry Interpretation

6^th Place - Abel Rodriguez III

Belmont University Speech Tournament

Sunday November 15

Pentathlon

6^th Place – Abel Rodriguez III

Duo Improvisation

2^nd Place - Rachel Brase and Kaylon Kennedy

5^th Place - Brynne Reilly and Megan Wagner

Persuasive Speaking

2^nd Place - Abel Rodriguez III

Top Novice – Talha Muhammad

Poetry Interpretation

6^th Place - Abel Rodriguez III

Program Oral Interpretation

5^th Place - Brynne Reilly

6^th Place - Kaylon Kennedy

The University of Kentucky Forensics Team’s next competition will be the WYRD Invitational tournament held at Transylvania University here in Lexington, Kentucky, December 4-5. UK Forensics is a student organization in the School of Information Science. The team competes in twelve different public speaking events and three forms of  debate. To find out more, please visit ukforensics.com.