Cougar news services
The University of Houston Speech and Debate Team culminated the 1996-97 competitive season by placing 18th in the nation out of 166 schools at the American Forensics Association Individual Events Tournament held at the University of Texas at Arlington April 3-7.
The entire team earned this rank with points gained at the preliminary level and placed in the top 13 in seven of its 18 qualifying events.
Senior member Andrea Rachiele placed seventh in the nation in communication analysis, the verbal analysis of a communication act within the confines of a communication model, and 13th in the nation in informative speaking.
Rachiele tied fellow UH team member Angela Sanchez for 13th place in poetry interpretation. Team Captain Jason Cryer placed 13th in inpromptu speaking, and tied himself with two dramatic duos that each placed 13th. Cryer's partners in those duos were Sanchez and freshman Teshia Washington.
Overall, Rachiele was ranked 28th top speaker in the nation out of more than 1,000 competitors, and Cryer ranked 39th.
The '96-97 season ended successfully as the team was able to take 18 different events to the national tournament. In order to qualify an event for nationals, the event had to place in the finals of a regular tournament three different times.
Cryer and Rachiele both qualified for the maximum amount of six events. Rachiele performed in impromptu speaking, informative speaking, extemporaneous speaking, persuasive speaking, communication analysis and poetry interpretation.
Cryer qualified impromptu speaking, prose interpretation, two duo interpretations, dramatic interpretation and poetry interpretation.
Sanchez qualified four events, including prose interpretation, poetry interpretation, communication analysis and a duo with Cryer. Washington, aside from her duo with Cryer, also qualified her program of oral interpretation. Freshman Melissa Dees also qualified with prose interpretation and extemporaneous speaking.
The AFA Tournament was preceded by the Delta Sigma Rho National Forensics Honor Society Tournament, which is reserved for competitors with high academic standards. Rachiele brought six events to semi-finals and placed second in the nation in impromptu speaking and third in the nation in communication analysis.
Sanchez placed second in the nation in communication analysis, while Washington placed sixth in the nation in poetry interpretation. Cryer broke three events to semi-finals.
The team will end the year by presenting a performance showcase April 17 and holding auditions for next year's team April 22.