Comet Speech and Forensics 2023-24 Achievements
National Online Forensics, 2023 Summer Royale, Aug. 26, 2023
Individual:
Margaret Belford and Alex de Jesus-Colon: competed in SPAR (Spontaneous Argumentation), a new debate format that this tournament made available to competitors. Belford won the collegiate division’s gold medal by taking first place in all three preliminary rounds.
Rice University Classic Swing, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2023
Part 1:
Team:
2nd behind UT Austin in Speech Sweepstakes and 3rd behind Rice University and UT Austin in Overall Sweepstakes (speech and debate)
Individual:
- Margaret Belford: 3rd in Persuasive Speaking, 6th in Extemporaneous Speaking and semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking
- Alex de Jesus-Colon: 5th in Impromptu Speaking
- Arlin Khan: 5th in Persuasive Speaking
- Sneha Elangovan: 5th in Informative Speaking
Part 2:
Team:
3rd in Swing Sweepstakes, 5th in Speech Sweepstakes
Individual:
- Sneha Elangovan: 6th in Informative Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: 5th in Persuasive Speaking
- Isaiah Hess: semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking
Bowling Green State University “CyberFalcon” virtual/online tournament, Oct. 14, 2023
Team:
6th in overall sweepstakes among 40 universities and colleges
Individual:
- Margaret Belford: 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Alex de Jesus-Colon: 4th in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: 4th in Informative Speaking (tie)
- Sneha Elangovan: 4th in Informative Speaking (tie)
- Arlin Khan: 4th in Persuasive Speaking
- Joshua Kalakoti: 5th in Media Broadcasting
Joseph J. Cardot Invitational, Abilene Christian University, Oct. 20-22, 2023
Team:
1st place sweepstakes award for individual speech events, 3rd in overall team sweeps for speech and debate
Individual:
- Margaret Belford: top speaker for individual events, 1st in Persuasive Speaking, 1st in Impromptu Speaking, 3rd in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Alex de Jesus-Colon: 1st in Extemporaneous Speaking, 2nd in Impromptu Speaking, 2nd in Informative Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: 1st in Informative Speaking, 2nd in Persuasive Speaking
- Isaiah Hess: 5th in Impromptu Speaking, 7th in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Ryan Selander: 2nd in Poetry Interpretation
DFW Swing (co-hosted with Texas Christian University on TCU campus), Oct. 27-29, 2023
Part 1:
Individual:
- Margaret Belford: 1st in Impromptu Speaking, 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking, quarterfinalist and 2nd place speaker award in IPDA (debate), 2nd place individual sweepstakes award
- Alex de Jesus-Colon: 1st in Extemporaneous Speaking, 4th in Informative Speaking
- Arlin Khan: 1st in Persuasive Speaking, 3rd in Impromptu Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: 1st in Informative Speaking, 3rd in Persuasive Speaking, quarterfinalist and 6th place speaker award in IPDA (debate), 3rd place individual sweepstakes award
- Ryan Selander: 2nd in Poetry Interpretation, 6th in Impromptu Speaking
Team:
1st in Combined Team Sweepstakes (combined for speech and debate), 1st in Individual Events Team Sweepstakes
Part 2:
Team:
3rd in Individual Events Sweepstakes
Individual:
- Sneha Elangovan: 2nd in Informative Speaking
- Arlin Khan: 1st in Persuasive Speaking, 4th in Impromptu Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: 1st in Informative Speaking, 2nd in Persuasive Speaking
- Ryan Selander: 2nd in Poetry Interpretation, 6th in Impromptu Speaking
AFA-NST District III Fall Qualifier, Nov. 11, 2023 (online)
Alex de Jesus-Colon: qualified in Informative Speaking for national tournament by placing as a finalist.
Southern Forensics Championships, Louisiana State University-Shreveport, Jan. 19-21, 2024
Individual:
- Arlin Khan: 2nd in Editorial Impromptu, 2nd in Persuasive Speaking
- Sneha Elangovan: 1st in Informative Speaking, 5th in Extemporaneous Speaking
- Margaret Belford: top speaker for varsity IPDA (debate)
Battle of Flowers Oratorical Contest, San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 23, 2024
Individual:
Arlin Khan: 4th as finalist
Texas Shuffle Swing, San Antonio College, Feb. 23-24, 2024
Individual:
- Sneha Elangovan: 1st in Informative Speaking for second consecutive tournament, 6th in Persuasive Speaking
- Arlin Khan: 5th in Persuasive Speaking
- Ryan Selander: 6th in Poetry
- Alex de Jesus-Colon: 3rd place speaker award, 2nd in parliamentary debate with Pranav Kumar, quarterfinalist in IPDA (debate) after being 4th seed in elimination rounds
- Pranav Kumar 2nd place speaker award, 2nd in parliamentary debate with Alex de Jesus-Colon
3X3 Online, Hofstra University, March 2, 2024
Team:
2nd in overall sweepstakes, three points behind Cornell University in 1st
Individual:
- Margaret Belford: 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking, 3rd in Prose Interpretation, 5th in Impromptu Speaking
- Alexander de Jesus-Colon: 3rd in Persuasive Speaking
- Sneha Elangovan: 4th in Persuasive Speaking
- Arlin Khan: 2nd in Impromptu Speaking, 2nd in Informative Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: 5th in Persuasive Speaking
International Forensics Association (IFA), Dublin, Ireland, March 11-12, 2024
Team:
Six UT Dallas students — Margaret Belford, Alexander de Jesus-Colon, Sneha Elangovan and Arlin Khan of Comet Speech and Forensics and Storm Lasseter and Hasan Mubarak of UT Dallas Debate — competed in our first-ever IFA tournament, which attracted teams from a record 40 universities.
Individual:
- Arlin Khan: semifinalist in Impromptu Speaking
- Sneha Elangovan: 3rd in Persuasive Speaking, which included more than 50 competitors; semifinalist in Informative Speaking and Extemporaneous Speaking
- Margaret Belford: 6th as finalist in Audio Narration and Irish Literature Interpretation
Online Public Debate with iDebate Rwanda, April 2, 2024
Individual:
Margaret Belford and Alex de Jesus-Colon (Comet Speech) and Hasan Mubarak (UT Dallas Debate) debated three members of iDebate Rwanda on this topic: “This house prefers truth and reconciliation commissions over criminal trials as a mechanism for post-genocide healing.”
American Forensic Association (AFA) National Speech Tournament (NST), University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, April 5-8, 2024
Team:
A team-record five competitors qualified for national tournament. Another first: Two UT Dallas students (Margaret Belford and Alex de Jesus-Colon) competed in three events.
Individual:
- Margaret Belford: Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Persuasive Speaking
- Alex de Jesus-Colon: Extemporaneous Speaking, Impromptu Speaking, Informative Speaking
- Sneha Elangovan: Informative Speaking
- Arlin Khan: Persuasive Speaking, Impromptu Speaking
- Pranav Kumar: Informative Speaking