NDSU's Lincoln Speech and Debate team won eight individual awards and a fourth place team sweepstakes award at Valley Forensic League tournaments Jan. 30-31 at Concordia College, Moorhead.

According to Najla Amundson, director of the Lincoln Speech and Debate Society and instructor of communication, Ruben Flores won first place and was named top novice in the poetry completion. Flores also placed fourth in impromptu speaking and took sixth place and earned top novice recognition in program of interpretation. He is a freshman majoring in music and international studies from East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Eric Thibert, a freshman majoring in political science, placed sixth in extemporaneous speaking and was named top novice in prose. He is from Fargo.

In addition, a team of Mariah Spillers-Taylor, a sophomore majoring in musical theater from Anoka, Minnesota, and Joshua Hindemaker, from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, placed second in parliamentary debate, while a team of Thibert and Gabriel Eronmosele, a freshman from Abuja, Nigeria, majoring in biochemisty and molecular biology, placed third.

The NDSU Lincoln Speech and Debate team competes in several tournaments each year. The organization is a member of Pi Kappa Delta, the American Forensics Association, National Forensics Association and National Parliamentary Debate Association.

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