Rice Speech and Debate Brings Home 91 Awards in Fall 2024!
Rice University George R. Brown Forensics Society
The George R. Brown Forensics Society, Rice’s speech and debate team, closed out a very successful semester of competition last weekend. Using their voices to express themselves, empower others, and enhance their education, the team works hard to represent Rice with excellence as academic competitors.
As of November 22, Rice has three of the top ten and four of the top twenty parliamentary debate teams in the nation in the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence rankings!
Nikki Stancik and Rija Naqvi are ranked 1st
Manna Trevino and Anna Phan are ranked 3rd
Arjun Surya and Kyle Sanderfer are ranked 6th
Rohan Gupta and Travis Johnson are ranked 14th
In addition, the team has qualified ten speech events for the American Forensics Association National Speech Tournament!
Individual tournament results are listed below.
Hill Country Swing, University of Texas at Austin, September 21-22
Part 1:
Maya Adhikari:
2nd Persuasive Speaking
Daijah Wilson:
5th Persuasive Speaking
Pranav Nagajothi:
5th Extemporaneous Speaking
Shay Olaifa:
6th Program Oral Interpretation
Part 2:
Maya Adhikari:
2nd Persuasive Speaking
Daijah Wilson:
4th Persuasive Speaking
Chloe Pesqueira:
3rd Persuasive Speaking
Rice University Classic, September 28-29
In addition to competing, Rice played host to competitors from across the nation on our campus.
Part 1:
Debate Sweepstakes: 1st
Overall Sweepstakes: 2nd
Catherine Cheng:
4th Program Oral Interpretation
Caleb Lin:
5th Poetry Interpretation
Vedant Khadiya:
6th Impromptu Speaking
Debate Awards:
Anna Phan and Manna Trevino:
Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Nikki Stancik and Rija Naqvi:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
William Wang and Rohan Gupta:
Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Debate speaker awards:
1st Kyle Sanderfer
4th Arjun Surya
5th Ridhi Dondeti
6th Anna Phan
7th Travis Johnson
Overall, Rice won 22 separate debates.
Part 2:
Sweepstakes: 2nd
Swing Sweepstakes: 2nd
Chloe Pesqueira:
3rd Impromptu Speaking
4th Persuasive Speaking
Pranav Nagajothi:
4th Extemporaneous Speaking
Catherine Cheng:
4th Program Oral Interpretation
Vedant Khadiya:
4th Impromptu Speaking
5th Poetry Interpretation
Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR, October 12-13z
Top: Arjun Surya, Travis Johnson, Niki Stancik, David Worth, Kyle Sanderfer Bottom: William Wang, Rija Naqvi, Ridhi Dondeti, Anna Phan, Manna Trevino
Debate Sweepstakes:
2nd Place
Nikki Stancik and Rija Naqvi:
2nd Place Parliamentary Debate
Arjun Surya and Kyle Sanderfer:
Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate
William Wang and Ridhi Dondeti:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Anna Phan and Manna Trevino
Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Debate speaker awards:
2nd Nikki Stancik
6th Kyle Sanderfer
9th William Wang
10th Arjun Surya
Overall, Rice won 19 separate debates.
Battle at the Alamo, San Antonio, TX October 18-19
Vedant Khadiya, Shannon LaBove, Pranav Nagajothi
Part 1:
Pranav Nagajothi:
3rd Extemporaneous Speaking
Vedant Khadiya:
5th Impromptu Speaking
Part 2:
Pranav Nagajothi:
1st Extemporaneous Speaking
Vedant Khadiya:
5th Extemporaneous Speaking
Pranav Nagajothi:
3rd Impromptu Speaking
Fall Lucky 7 Asynchronous Invitational, November 11-15
Pranav Nagajothi:
1st Impromptu Speaking
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA, November 2-3
David Worth, Rohan Gupta, Arjun Surya, Chloe Pesqueira, William Wang, Maya Adhikari, Travis Johnson, Anna Phan, Rija Naqvi, Ridhi Dondeti, Nikki Stancik, Manna Trevino, Kyle Sanderfer, Shannon LaBove, Max Renteria
4-year Sweepstakes 2nd place
4-year Swing Sweepstakes 3rd Place
Nikki Stancik and Rija Naqvi:
2nd Place Parliamentary Debate
Arjun Surya and Kyle Sanderfer:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Anna Phan and Manna Trevino:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
William Wang and Rohan Gupta:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Ridhi Dondeti and Travis Johnson:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Debate speaker awards:
2nd Rija Naqvi
3rd Nikki Stancik
4th Manna Trevino
Overall, Rice won 23 separate debates.
Speech Awards:
Chloe Pesqueira:
3rd Persuasive Speaking
4th Impromptu Speaking
5th Extemporaneous Speaking
Maya Adhikari:
4th Persuasive Speaking
Mustang Invitational, Stockton, CA, November 2
Pranav Nagajothi, Chloe Pesqueira, Daijah Wilson, Maya Adhikari, Shay Olaifa
Chloe Pesqueira:
2nd Persuasive Speaking
3rd Impromptu Speaking
5th Extemporaneous Speaking
Maya Adhikari:
2nd Communication Analysis
3rd Persuasive Speaking
6th Extemporaneous Speaking
Southern and Northern Atlantic Forensic Union, Seton Hall University, November 9-10
Catherine Cheng, Vedant Khadiya, Caleb Lin, Daijah Wilson
Part 1:
Sweepstakes:
1st Place, Limited Entry Sweeps
Vedant Khadiya:
1st Extemporaneous Speaking
Caleb Lin:
2nd Poetry Interpretation
Catherine Cheng:
2nd Program Oral Interpretation
Daijah Wilson:
4th Persuasive Speaking
Vedant Khadiya:
Finalist, Impromptu Speaking
Part 2:
Caleb Lin:
3rd Poetry Interpretation
Catherine Cheng:
3rd Program Oral Interpretation
Daijah Wilson:
4th Informative Speaking
AFA-NST District III Fall Qualifying Tournament, Online, November 16
Daijah Wilson:
2nd Persuasive Speaking
4th Informative Speaking
Shay Olaifa:
4th Program Oral Interpretation
Caleb Lin:
4th Poetry Interpretation
William Jewell College, November 15-17, Liberty, MO
Part 1:
Debate speaker awards:
3rd Anna Phan
4th Manna Trevino
10th Nikki Stancik
Rohan Gupta and Travis Johnson:
Octafinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Anna Phan and Manna Trevino:
Quarterfinalists, Parliamentary Debate
Overall, Rice won 12 separate debates.
Part 2:
Rija Naqvi and Nikki Stancik:
Tie for 1st Place, Parliamentary Debate
Anna Phan and Manna Trevino:
Tie for 1st Place, Parliamentary Debate
(These two teams closed out the final round!)
Rohan Gupta and Travis Johnson:
Semifinalists, Parliamentary Debate (conceding to Phan/Trevino in a closeout of their semifinal round)
Debate speaker awards:
1st Nikki Stancik
5th Rija Naqvi
8th Anna Phan
9th Rohan Gupta
10th Travis Johnson
Overall, Rice won 18 separate debates.
Please join us in congratulating these academic competitors! This concludes competition for the Fall semester. The team will resume competing in January 2025.
Rice Speech and Debate is housed in the School of Humanities and is coached by David Worth and Shannon LaBove. For more information, please visit humanities.rice.edu/speech-and-debate.