Moorpark Debate Team Wins State Title

Moorpark College’s forensics team, the best community college speech and debate squad in the United States last year, this week walked off with its first state championship in four years.

The team placed first in the California Community College Forensic Assn.’s State Championships, which pitted teams from 30 two-year state colleges during competition held at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

Moorpark finished with 277 1/2 points in the event, which ran from Thursday to Tuesday. The second-place team, from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, finished with 232 1/2 points.

The Moorpark team won gold medals in all but three of the competition’s 14 events, said speech coach Dick Strong.

“They’ve worked very hard,” he said.

But no rest is in sight. The team will spend the rest of the month gearing up for the April 2 National Speech Championships in Concord, Calif.

At that event, Moorpark will defend its 1988 national championship title against teams from 75 two-year colleges from across the United States.