“We pretty much left them crying in the dust. Clark’s gonna be pissed and want revenge,” said the director of forensics, Shannon Valdivia.

The first designated tournament of the year for the Forensics Team was held last weekend at Lewis and Clark College. MHCC came out on top, winning first place among the community colleges at the Northwest Forensics Conference. There were 30 colleges and universities in attendance including Rice, Utah State, University of Washington and Claremont.

“We were going up against teams that were twice the size of ours. That says a lot for our school,” said Valdivia.

In the individual events, Tori Zanzalari won first place in Novice Dramatic Interpretation, with a piece she called “The Debate Team Casanova,” about a young man trying to impress a girl he met at a debate tournament.

Lawrence Behmer took first place in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking, Jonathan Stanaford was second in Novice Persuasive Speaking and Natalie Fetsch came away with third place in Novice Prose Interpretation.

Nikki Fisher was a finalist in Novice Impromptu Speaking and Sean Partch was a finalist in Senior Impromptu Speaking.

On Oct. 18, the Forensics Team will get the chance to compete on their own turf at the MHCC campus.

When asked to explain the Forensics Team, Valdivia explained, “Basically, we are the sport of the mind” that gets students to “critically engage the world around them, to learn how to create positive discourse to change the world.”

Then she related the team to athletics. “I would pick any of my debaters over any athlete when it comes to stamina.” she said. “I can say that as a former athlete myself, before all my athletic colleagues get all pissed off at me for saying that.”

A large bowl of pure silver was their trophy. It towers over their third place silver bowl from last year.

Regarding the coming year, Valdivia is “feeling pretty good. I’ve got a really great group of people.” She also said, “I think we’ve got a really good chance to defend our regional title, and a pretty good shot at Nationals. So, I’m feeling pretty optimistic.”

The Forensics Team was also given a new space in the lower level of the college center to practice in.