Oregon State University’s Forensics (speech and debate) Team attended the Great Salt Lake Invitational & UTEP Individual Events Classic, held on the campus of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, on Jan. 16-17, 2026. The ‘swing’ event, which featured two complete tournaments in one weekend, was cohosted by the University of Texas, El Paso. This was the third time that OSU attended this event in recent years.
Senior Veronica Robinson, a Psychology major from Portland, took second place in Open Informative Speaking and second place in Open Impromptu Speaking at the first tournament. At the second tournament, Sophomore Ellie Lucas, a Sociology major from Salem, was sixth place in Open Impromptu Speaking and Robinson was second place in Open Informative Speaking. Lucas also competed in Open Poetry Interpretation at both tournaments.
“This was an amazing performance by Veronica and Ellie,” said Mark Porrovecchio, director of the team. “They both put a lot of effort into their events and supported each other.”
The tournament featured over a dozen schools from across the country, including California State University Fullerton; the College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls; Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff; and the College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls.
The team was coached by graduate student Megan Baus from Salem. Baus is a former competitor for OSU and a current MAIS graduate student in the Speech Communication area of the School of Communication.
“It is not for nothing that both Veronica and Ellie are going to compete in Athens, Greece, in March,” continued Porrovecchio. “They both represent what is great about our team and what is best about OSU.”
Celebrating its 133rd season, OSU Forensics is one of the oldest clubs on campus and a member of the Performing Arts Board in the School of Communication. The team is open to all students in good academic standing regardless of experience or academic background. If you are a student interested in participating, or a member of the community who would like to support the team, please contact Porrovecchio at [email protected].
CONTACT:
Mark Porrovecchio
205 Shepard Hall
737-8230
Photo (from left to right): Veronica, Swoop the red-tailed hawk, and Ellie during a break in the competition.
Correction: Previous press releases mistakenly listed Ellie Lucas’ hometown as Bend. The author apologizes for the error.