Saddleback College Speech and Debate Top 10 in the Nation

Saddleback students took 7th place overall at the national community college championship earlier this month. They were competing against 59 other schools.

The Saddleback College Forensics Team gained the respect of the tournament winner Moorpark College. Moorpark's forensics director, Rolland Petrello, said "the entire country is afraid of Saddleback. Saddleback will be scary-good next year. Watch out."

In her first year on the team, Olivia Noceda scored three bronze medals.

• See a list of all medal winners in our chart below.

Andrew Ronquillo took silver in communication analysis, and the Reader's Theater teams took second and third.

Some statements were released by the college Thursday afternoon:

• Team Leader Lucas Ochoa: “We are pleased with the results at this year's national tournament. It was incredible to see our students huddle up at the awards ceremony and declare that Saddleback would be back with a vengeance in 2013. Several students have already begun working on next year's speeches. With the hard work of the coaches and students, I'm confident that Saddleback will be a huge force in the forensics community.
  
  "I'm incredibly proud of my Reader's Theatre. Watching them compete in the final round was a culmination of hard work and enthusiasm. It was fun knocking Mt. Sac out of the Semi Final round with my Reader's Theatre 'II.' I look forward to seeing what we can do next year at nationals in Los Angeles. We'll be ready!"

• Co-Team Director Larry Radden: "Phi Rho Pi Nationals was an amazing experience for all 18 of us. I feel that this group interacts more like a big family then just a team.
  
  "Aside from the joy of being around these amazing students and coaches, I was also ecstatic with the results. We were the only school to advance our Readers Theatre teams to the out rounds and that was extremely difficult because every show was fantastic. The fact that most of our team was recruited at the beginning of the semester and new to the activity is also a testament of hard work, talent and commitment.
  
  "I would also like to highlight the accomplishments of Olivia Noceda who in her first semester on the team managed to not only receive bronze in dramatic interpretation and poetry interpretation, she was also a pleasure to work with in my Reader’s Theatre. She received her third bronze medal in that event! Hat’s off to a powerful year."

• Dr. Tod A. Burnett, President of Saddleback College: “Saddleback’s forensics team is truly phenomenal.  From the superb performance of our students to the dedication of our talented coaches, it’s been a real pleasure watching our team improve and become a force to be reckoned with. I commend all of our forensics students for their amazing work this year, and look forward to seeing the Saddleback team progress to new heights next year.”

• Bart McHenry, Dean of Fine Arts and Media Technology: “I am thrilled with the ongoing success of our forensics team.  They have continually proven themselves to be outstanding during this academic year. The fact that we rank nationally while competing against four-year institutions is an accomplishment I am most proud of.  Congratulations to our students and coaches for a job well done.”

Here are the individual results:

The Saddleback Forensics Team started in the 1970s.