News

Forensics preparing for national tourney

By Jon Fuccillo

The MHCC forensics team was among 47 colleges, which included only six community colleges, to travel to St. Louis to compete in the Pi Kappa Delta Forensics Association tournament last weekend.

“Due to the budget situation we could only afford to send four members from the team, which puts a lot of pressure on those who are competing,” said Aaron Kaio, assistant forensics coach.

They ended the tournament in fourth place out of the community colleges. “Fourth place wasn’t too bad considering two of the community colleges finished in the top 10,” said Kaio.

Andrew Hazell finished in sixth place in extemporaneous speaking, Jay Saban was a finalist in poetry, and Sam Pagano was a quarterfinalist in impromptu speaking. Saban and Pagano finished 19th in parliamentary debate. “It was really too bad since the top 16 teams in the parliamentary made it to octet final that has eight different debates, so we just missed it,” said Kaio.

Overall, Kaio thought the team did pretty well since they had such a small team and didn’t have that much time to do anything besides compete. “It was really funny, we barley had enough time to even eat,” said Kaio. “Shannon Valdivia and I would take turns calling in for food and picking it up, then we would text message each member of the team to let them know that we had food in between each round. It was really quite wild running around from room to room throughout the hotel.”

The judging wasn’t the same that they’ve been used to in the past, and Kaio said the judges were short handed. “The judges and teams weren’t familiar with our team and players, and I don’t want to say they were playing favorites, but it seems that there is a certain familiarity when judging teams,” she said. “Plus they were short on judges, which left a grueling schedule for our team in preparation of each round. It’s hard going into a location where no one knows who we are, especially since we haven’t competed in this tournament in over two years. On top of that, each region has different tastes in judging.”

Although the team didn’t have much time to do any sight-seeing throughout their stay, they did get a chance on their last day to do a little bit of running around in the St. Louis area.

“We really didn’t have any time, we barely had time to eat during our stay,” said Kaio. “But we did have some time during our last day before we departed back to Portland to make some quick stops. We got a chance to visit the Arch, which was very exciting because it’s always nice to be able to see historical sites during our competitions. We also got a chance to visit the St. Louis zoo, which was free, and we had a good time.”

The forensics team is hosting a regional competition at MHCC Friday through Sunday. This tournament consists of at least 15 teams from all around the region. “It’s funny how we have a regional tournament then a national tournament so close to each other,” said Kaio. “There are teams from Washington, Idaho, Utah, and possibly a couple other of states.”

Kaio said the St. Louis tournament was good in preparing them for the national tournament, which is in the Chicago area. She said it was a chance for them to get a feel for the Midwest judging and what teams might be competing in the national tournament, which is only held for community colleges. This event is called the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament. “Our tournament in St. Louis was kind of a warm up in getting prepared for the national tournament, which takes place April 12-20, well, that’s when we are leaving,” said Kaio.

After the national tournament, the team slows down in the competitions. “After the national tournament we really start to slow down and get our team prepared for next year and work on the recruiting process for our team,” said Kaio.