After eight consecutive years of winning, the UW-Eau Claire forensics team won its ninth Wisconsin State tournament.
On Feb. 17, the team took 10 people to the state tournament at UW-Platteville and brought back many awards and trophies.
Junior Ben Schneider led the way for Eau Claire taking first in the individual sweepstakes, prose interpretation and impromptu speaking.
Junior Scott Boras placed second in program oral presentation and third in dramatic presentation. In impromptu speaking, senior Cate Dunham placed second and took third in extemporaneous speaking.
Another member of the team, senior Barbara Ellevold, took first in informative speaking and dramatic interpretation sections and second in individual sweepstakes.
Ellevold has been involved in forensics since seventh grade.
“A teacher wanted me to get involved and I loved it,” she said.
Ellevold said it’s nice to be able to express herself through a different kind of art form.
“I’ve learned that if you love something, you should share it,” Ellevold said.
Two other members of the team, senior Jodi Becker and junior Aaron Unseth, placed first and second in the oratory section at the state tournament.
The two will represent Eau Claire at the Interstate Oratory Contest on April 26 to 28 at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.
The Interstate Oratory is the oldest public speaking contest in the country and will host its 128th annual contest this spring.
The trip will be Becker’s fourth consecutive year competing in the competition, which she said is highly unusual and a great honor.
Forensics assistant director Kelly Jo Wright said she thinks Becker and Unseth will do really well.
“They have an excellent chance of advancing to the final round and bringing home some awards,” she said.
Wright has headed the Eau Claire team for nine years, leading them to nine state championships in a row.
Her leadership goes beyond Eau Claire, though, as she has been re-elected as the president of the Wisconsin Collegiate Forensics Association for her fourth year.
