Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Submitted photo The novice forensics team takes second at St. Cloud tournament Feb. 2 and 3.

A young UW-Eau Claire forensics team took second place at the Icebox Classic tournament Feb. 2 and 3 at St. Cloud State University (Minn.).

Karen Morris, director of forensics at Eau Claire, said Concordia College-Moorhead (Minn.) took first place at the event, but commended the freshmen and other young participants that competed for Eau Claire.

"They're hard workers, they really are," Morris said. "They amaze me - all the work that they put in."

Freshman B.J. Pickard took second place individually in the tournament and took first place in communication analysis, third in informative speaking, fifth in after-dinner speaking and fifth in prose interpretation.

"I was pretty satisfied," Pickard said of the tournament. "I really accomplished what I set out to do and things ran pretty much how I had envisioned them going. I was proud of what I was able to accomplish."

Junior Eric Plantenberg placed fourth overall individually, placed third in dramatic interpretation and placed first and sixth in duo interpretations with freshmen Alex Collie and Whitney Zahn, respectively, according to a university press release.

Freshman Kerry Nutting, who took fourth place for her informative speech had positive things to say about the competition.

"We had a great tournament as a team," Nutting said. "It was really exciting."

The team also took first place Sunday at the Red Hawk Invitational, hosted by Ripon College and held on the Eau Claire campus, Morris said, and took second place Tuesday at the Twin Cities Forensic League Tournament.

Nutting said the team has had a great season so far and spoke highly of the group's chemistry.

"Our forensics team this year has been doing great … it's just really exciting to see the success our team has had," she said. "We all get along great. We bond really well."

Morris agreed.

"They're a pretty close-knit group," Morris said, adding she believes the fact that many of the team members are freshmen has helped them bond with each other.

Morris also said the team is doing what it needs to do in order to make a run at the national tournament.

"They're on track to get ready for nationals," she said. "For having such a young class, they're really on track."

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