The Moorpark College Forensics Team is celebrating after placing second at this year's national championships.

The students and their coaches spent last week participating in a series of individual and team debates and spoken word performances at the Phi Rho Pi National Forensics Tournament in St. Charles, Ill.

"It was really exciting, and I enjoyed it so much," Chris Maciel, 18, of Ventura said Monday.

Forensics coach Rolland Petrello, a speech and theater professor, credited his students' success to their hard work and dedication.

"They worked so hard in the week before the competition," he said. "They spent 10 to 12 hours a day working on their speeches and performances. They really came together in a way we hadn't seen before."

The team has the best record of any junior college in America, according to James Wyman, the director of forensics. Last month, it won the state championship for the fifth year in a row, and the students were also victorious at the recent Community College Sweepstakes at the National Parliamentary Debate Association tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Matt Strawbridge, 19, of Camarillo was the only returning member of the team and said he was thrilled that he as an individual and the team as a whole were more successful than last year.

"This year I had more of a chance to be a team leader, which is something I really enjoyed," he said.

Strawbridge won a gold medal in Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking for his off-the-cuff speech on the subject of U.S. policy regarding the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

"I got a topic I enjoyed speaking about and I got to talk about something that's really important," he said.

Strawbridge also won a bronze medal in the Lincoln Douglas Debate and, along with debating partner Melissa Youngern, won bronze in Parliamentary Debate.

Maciel won a gold medal in the Lincoln Douglas Debate, where he spoke on the topic of AIDS in Africa, and a gold medal, along with debating partner Justin Harris, in Parliamentary Debate.

Other medal winners on the team were Scott Leonard, a silver in Impromptu Speaking and bronze in Parliamentary Debate with debating partner Jacob Crooks; Dave Norris, a bronze in Parliamentary Debate with a partner from another college; Harris, a bronze in Lincoln Douglas Debate; Tiffanie Daniels, a silver in Program Oral Interpretation and bronze in Poetry Interpretation; Annie Block-Weiss, a bronze in Prose Interpretation; and Jamie Maarten, a silver in Informative Speaking and bronze in Persuasive Speaking and Communications Analysis. Others members who contributed to the overall team win were Allison Searcy and Estevan Valdes.