| For more information, questions can be addressed to any of the four coaches:
Jim Wyman 805.378.1471 - jwyman@vcccd.edu
Rolland Petrello 805.378.1546 – rpetrello@vcccd.edu
Jill McCall 805.378.1400 x 1680 - jmccall@vcccd.edu
Vanessa Harikul - vharikul@gmail.com
The Forensic Team is number two in the US after a week-long competition that ended over the weekend at the National Championships in Chicago, Illinois.
The win capped off an adventurous year that included taking prestigious Sylvia Mariner Cumulative Sweepstakes Award for the seventh time at Nationals.
"This award is given for cumulative success over a period of years as each schools point total from the national tournament is added with their previous scores until they win the award, at which point they go back to zero," said coach Rolland Petrello. "Moorpark College became the first school to win the award for the seventh time. Only one other school in the country has even won it six times. "
Overall National Results
1st - Los Angeles Valley College
2nd - Moorpark College
3rd - Southeastern Illinois College (Il)
4th - Orange Coast College (Ca)
5th - Northwest College (Wy)
6th - Santiago Canyon College (Ca)
Individual Results
Justin Harris & Chris Maciel - Gold in Parliamentary Debate
Matt Strawbridge & Melissa Youngern - Bronze in Parliamentary Debate
Jacob Crooks & Scott Leonard - Bronze in Parliamentary Debate
Dave Norris - - Bronze in Parliamentary Debate with a partner from another college.
Reader's Theatre - Silver Medal - Annie Block-Weiss, Tiffanie Daniels, & Rachel Borbas
- Chris Maciel - Gold Medal in Lincoln Douglas Debate
- Matt Strawbridge - Gold Medals in Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking and Bronze in Lincoln Douglas Debate
- Scott Leonard - Silver Medal in Impromptu Speaking
- Justin Harris - Bronze Medal in Lincoln Douglas Debate
- Tiffanie Daniels - Silver Medal in Program Oral Interpretation, Bronze in Poetry Interpretation
- Jamie Maarten - Silver Medal in Informative Speaking, Bronze Medals in Persuasive Speaking and Communication Analysis
- Annie Block-Weiss - Bronze Medal in Prose Interpretation
Other Team Members who contributed to the win but did not win a medal:
Allison Searcy & Estevan Valdes
Team Members:
Matt Strawbridge was the lone returning member of last year's Nationals team
Melissa Youngern competed last year but not at Nationals.
Jacob Crooks, Justin Harris, Scott Leonard, Jamie Maarten, Chris Maciel, Dave Norris, & Estevan Valdes are in their first year of competition.
Tiffanie Daniels, Annie Block-Weiss, and Allison Searcy are all in their first semester of competition
Rachel Borbas has been on the team for three weeks.
"It's been a long, challenging year. We began the year with one team member that had been to nationals and we had high hopes for all the new people. Many of those people were gone by the end of the year and other, even newer, students stepped in to take their place. In a remarkable achievement, by the end of the year Moorpark College followed up its State Championships with a second place As coaches we could not be prouder of the team. Their victories was a classic underdog story with a very happy ending."
In March, Moorpark College Forensics team won its fifth straight State Championships with an incredibly narrow margin of victory of 3.75 points over long time rival Orange Coast College (191.25-187.5), with LA Valley College close behind in third place (177.5).
Standout performances came from the pair of debate teams that tied for the gold medal (Matthew Strawbridge & Jacob Crooks as well as Justin Harris & Chris Maciel). Matthew Strawbridge also won Gold in Lincoln Douglas debate. Other Gold medals went to Justin Harris in Impromptu Speaking and Jamie Maarten in Persuasive Speaking - the fourteenth time in the past sixteen years that a Moorpark College student has been top in the state in that event.
Long time Director of the team, James Wyman, was also honored at the state by having the award for the top debater in the tournament named after him.
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