OCC's team, which last won the state championship in 1996, will take part in the 1999 California Community College Speech and Debate Tournament, March 11-14 at Moorpark College in Ventura County. Fricker says defending national champion, Mt. San Antonio College, will be the team to beat for the state title. Mt. SAC didn't compete at last week's Spring Championships, they've been doing some traveling to regional tournaments. They'll be extremely strong, with tremendous depth, but I think we can throw a challenge at them. This figures to be the most competitive state tournament in quite a number of years.
Several schools have an excellent shot at winning.
Other contenders from Southern California include South Orange County, L.A. Valley and Moorpark. Northern contenders include Santa Rosa, Solano and Los Rios. The national tournament is scheduled for April 9-16 in Milwaukee.