Rio Hondo Forensics team returned with a total of eight awards from the Griffin Invitation tournament at Grossmont Community College on Sunday Nov. 16.

Rio’s team sent 20 students to compete against 24 other schools. Unlike other tournaments, Grossmont’s competition was modeled after the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament. This tournament helped forecast Rio Hondo’s performance at the national level.

After four preliminary rounds, Rio Hondo had five teams break into the bronze medal round. In novice: Chris Voivedich with Pedro Huerta, and Hovik Gegamyan with Natalia Renteria. In junior: Chris Rodriguez with Kimberly Valencia, Felix Rodriguez with Andrew Perez, and Alex Cadena with Caesar Sanchez.

After the bronze medal was over, Viovedich with Huerta, and Rodriguez with Valencia, advanced to compete in the gold medal round. Both teams won their round attaining a gold medal.

These rounds were filled with competitors who were knocked out of the tournament; so many people saw the skills, talent, and professionalism by Rio Hondo.

Rio Hondo’s Felix Rodriguez and Caesar Sanchez received the 4^th and 6^th speaker awards in junior.

Pedro Huerta received the 8^th place speaker award in novice. Speaker awards were given for eloquence and professionalism.

The President of Rio’s team, Kimberly Valencia, expressed her joy with the team’s results. “It’s exciting to gain recognition and prove Rio Hondo is a force to be reckoned with!” Valencia went on to express her personal achievement, “It is difficult to gain credibility in the world of forensics, and this was a personal stepping stone for me.”

Chris Voivedich accomplished a special feat during this tournament. “My partner and I won all six of our rounds,” Voivedich said, “I’m ecstatic.” Voivedich and Huerta never lost a vote, even in the medal rounds they won them unanimously. This is a big accomplishment achieve.

Both Valencia and Voivedich knew their success could not have happened alone. “The team just feeds off of each other’s support and encouragement, it shows that our practice is really paying off,” said Valencia.

Voivedich acknowledged by saying, “This could not be done with the support of the team, our coach, Grant Tovmasian, and our Director of Forensics, Libby Curiel,”