Forensics team racks up the wins

India Williams
Staff Writer
Mar. 11, 2004, Page 3

For the first time in four years the Doane Forensics team was number one at a tournament.
After one of its most successful competitions last weekend at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University, the team brought home 29 individual speaking awards and qualified for Nationals in seven events.
The competition included nine other schools throughout the Midwest.
“This competition put a lot of pressure on us because it was students’ last chance to qualify for Nationals,” freshman Emily Jordening said.
The team has placed number one in four sweepstakes and in the top three in all of the others since October. All but two students out of the 14 qualified for Nationals.
“They may travel three weekends out of a month and practice three to eight hours a week,” said Dawn Bartlett, director of the Forensics team. “But they continue to show they're the best with over 250 awards to prove it.”
Before each competition they chant “focus, energy and support” to remain motivated because it is hard to give up every weekend for competitions.
“Things can be difficult for the students physically and mentally because our team has the longest season of any sport or activity on campus,” Bartlett said. “But these students are above average so they manage their time wisely.”
Next week's tournament at the University of Wisconsin may not be the last tournament for most of the team before Nationals, but for seniors Anne Golden and Erin Cico it will be.
“I have seen this team grow over the past four years and I can honestly say it has changed my life,” Golden said. “We've been so successful because we support one another like a family.”
The Doane Forensics team has nothing to do with crime investigations like some think, but with subject matter that relates to politics, the economy, sociology and many other areas.
“We don't do autopsies; however, we do leave behind a lot of dead bodies at the tournaments,” Jordening said.
The Doane Forensics team’s last tournament before Nationals is next week at the University of Wisconsin. Nationals will be April 2-5 in California.