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Show Accent SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE, CEDAR CITY THE THUNDERBIRD MONDAY, APRIL 23, 1990 PAGE 7 Petrucka is a team player Page Petrucka credits supportive team members for her BY MARCUS LUDWIG What do Bradley University in Illinois, University of Texas, at Austin, George Mason University in Virginia, and Southern Utah State in Cedar City have in common? They are all winners in this years National Individual Events Tournament. SU took fourth place in the nation with the help of Page Petrucka who won the national championship in Dramatic Interpretation becoming only the fifth SU student to become a champion at nationals. Petrucka is originally from Rock Springs, Wyo., which lies in the southwest corner of Wyoming near the Utah border. The population is roughly equal to that of Cedar City which may be one reason she enjoys Southern Utah State. Her experiences in high school forensics were in the area of Dramatic Interpretation which she considers to be just like performing in a theatre. Her theatre involvement at Rock Springs High School helped to start her forensics career. The forensic coach, she said, convinced her to join the squad instead of play basketball. While in high school, she said, I had taken a couple of third places, and had been to the district tournament, but had never won anything big. This time at nationals, though, she wasnt standing in an auditorium in high school, but she was now standing in the Paul Bear Bryant Conference Center performing her dramatic interpretation. Petrucka, competing against 108 others, passed up last years Dramatic Interpretation and advanced to winner in the semi-finathe final round. I broke into the final round leaving the winner of last years Dramatic Interpretation behind. The dramatic interpretation Petrucka delivered at nationals was originally taken from the book In This Sign, which was later ls first-plac- e win made into the movie Love is Never Silent, a Hallmark Hall of Fame production. The story is about a daughter who has two deaf parents who depend on her as their voice and the link to the outside world. She eventually gets married and is going to move away, but the girls parents couldnt accept her leaving. Interpretation is basically like theatre and Drama. Youre just performing. I was able to use my emotions, facial expressions and gestures to portray my feelings. Playing the role also gave Petrucka the opportunity to use her talent in American sign language. The dramatic interpretation is a piece delivered from memory. The script is she memorized with very little said. The script is about the size of a college blue book which is hand held while giving the delivery. Petrucka gave her teammates and coaches as much credit for her first place win as she did for their overall fourth place team win. The whole team was just so supportive and so encouraging. I remember when I got my first place, it was just down to the last two. I was so stressed out. They announced the sixth place, and then fifth, then fourth, and youre standing up there waiting Ah, whats going to happen? And then there were two left and I was looking down at my team and when they announced who the second placed winner was, I started to cry and I could hear my team screaming at the top of their lungs. Ive never really won anything of this nature before and its been an encouraging experience. To do your very best is one thing, but then to get rewarded for it is another thing, she said. Petrucka is already looking forward to next years nationals, Im starting to get some speeches ready. The process of forensics never ends. Page Petrucka s dramatic interpretation at the national tournament utilized her sign e win makes her SU's fifth national champ. language training. The first-plac- Morman competes through others BY JANETTE C. STUBBS Mark Morman, assistant forensic coach, led the finish at the SUSC forensic team to a fourth-plac- e tournament at the University of national AFA-NIEAlabama, Tuscaloosa. Also, for the first time in SUSC forensic history, SUSC had a student, Peter Tagg, win the top Individual Event speaker award. Morman is originally from Tyler, Texas, and has been a communication professor and forensic coach here at SUSC for two years. Morman, a graduate of SUSC, participated in forensics throughout his four years here. He was squad first person to president as a freshman and was the qualify for six events at the national tournament. Only two other students have qualified for that many events m SU history. After graduating from SUSC, Morman said, I knew that I wanted to teach, and 1 knew that I wanted to I can't compete anymore I stay with forensics and since T Mark Morman coached SUs forensic team to its fourth Tuscaloosa place national ran at the U of Alabama, have to do it through other people. Coaching is kind of an extension of me. The thing that most people dont understand about the national tournament is that everybody thinks we just go and just do it. Everything we do throughout the year is geared toward the end, said Morman. A lot of it has to do with motivation, I believe that the people that do well at nationals are the people that want to do well at nationals. We did a lot as far as motivation, as far as getting people in the right frame of mind, he said. When youre competing at that level, youve got to have steel nerves of steel, said Morman. You have to be rock solid, not only in your performance but in your mental sense as well. Morman said strategy is what he has learned most from his coaching years. We worked very systematically to get where we got. We chose our tournaments very strategically; we chose to go to certain tournaments, and we chose certain people for certain tournaments. |