The Thundering Word speech and debate team has two competitions left before the end of the fall semester, but the team brought a top 10 placement home to Marshall University after its national tournament.

The Thundering word placed seventh as a team out of 49 total schools at the annual L.E. Norton Memorial Tournament. This is the first time the school has placed that high in the rankings.

Victoria Ledford, senior, was the third place best overall speaker at the tournament.

“Fall national is the most competitive tournament that we go to until the spring,” Ledford said. “There were almost 50 teams there and we placed seventh. That is the highest that we have ever placed.”

Ledford placed third in pentathlon, third in persuasive speaking and fourth in communication analysis at the fall national.

Alyssa Hager, sophomore, placed fifth in persuasive speaking and was a quarterfinalist in the prose interpretation section.

“We know we make our department proud and our coaches proud,” Hager said. “It is great to see the looks on their faces when we win. It is a really awesome experience.”

Sarah Nix, freshman, placed fourth in novice impromptu speaking and fifth in novice extemporaneous speaking at the fall national.

The Thundering Word will compete in its final tournaments of the fall semester at Belmont University in two weeks, and Ohio State University in December.

Aundrea Horsley can be contacted at [email protected].