Maddie Moradi '25 Wins Brenda Marshall Speaking Award

Freshman Maddie Moradi '25 took top honors for Novice/Junior Speakers at the 91st Mahaffey Memorial Forensics Tournament held online Nov. 12-14, 2021. 

The Brenda Marshall Award is given to the speaker earning the most sweepstakes points in Novice and Junior events. To win the award, Moradi advanced three of her four events in final rounds. Moradi won first place in Junior Prose, second place in Junior Dramatic Interpretation, and sixth place in Junior Program Oral Interpretation. She earned 22 sweepstakes points on her own, two ahead of the second-place finisher. 

Senior Zoraida Espinoza '22 earned her third award this year in Senior Prose, placing second. Espinoza was the top-ranked performer out of preliminary rounds, posting the best and maximum scores a student can earn. Espinoza and Moradi were both hoping to advance their Duo Interpretation into Finals, but missed the cut after their tie was broken by speaker points. 

Junior Dalton Sikes '23 earned his first nationally-qualified event of the year with a sixth place award in Senior Prose. Sikes will next look to qualify his Poetry Interpretation, which was just a few points away from advancing at the Linfield tournament. 

Sophomore Megan Farmer '24 and freshman Andie Howard '25 were edged out of final rounds this tournament. Farmer debuted a new Informative Speech on fanfiction and its legal standing, which was a well-liked topic. Howard was next to break in Novice Informative, one point away from advancing into finals.

The Pacific University Speech and Debate Team five individual awards led to a seventh-place finish in Team Sweepstakes out of 16 teams. Pacific only brought five students to the competition, demonstrating that a small group of students can make a big impact!

Next up, the team will send a small squad to an online competition Nov. 20-21, 2021 hosted by Diablo Valley College. The final tournament of 2021 will be the Dugaw Smelt Classic, held online Nov. 4-6, 2021.