After weeks of hard work and countless hours of preparation, the Contra Costa College speech team has continued to shine during regional tournaments.

While competing in the Keeling Invitational Speech & Debate Tournament, held Oct. 4 at Chabot College, the team was awarded first, second and two third place recognition.

“We have been fortunate that we have such an incredible group of people who are consistently ready for competitions,” speech professor Randy Carver said.

This semester the speech team has around 10 members consisting of first-time participants and others who are returning who have more experience.

Journalism major Xavier Johnson has participated in tournaments in the categories of dramatic interpretation, informative and finished in first place and third place, respectively.

“One of my biggest strengths is that I have a strong voice. It helps to keep a high intensity during my performances,” Johnson said.

Computer science and business major Aman Butt competed in the informative category bringing home third place for CCC.

“It requires a lot of effort to participate in the competitions. In order to be successful you have to allocate time to accomplish every task,” Butt said.

Communications major Eric Martinez participated in the tournament for the first time as a novice, however, he was moved to the open division because there were not enough people to participate in the persuasive speech category.

Even though he competed against participants with more experience, Martinez gave a strong performance and finished in third place.

“Our team really has a passion and dedication to compete. That’s the reason the team wins as much as we do,” Martinez said.

The speech team also participated in Paul Winters Invitational Tournament held Nov. 1-3 at the University of the Pacific.

However, with some veteran members of the speech team unavailable for the event, none of the participants were able to place in this competition.

Speech professor Steve Robertson said, “The team is doing an excellent job; we are going to keep working hard and keep up with this trend of success. Hopefully it will bring more people all the way up through nationals.”