Wildcats capture fourth straight state speech and debate title

Columbia Falls High School's Speech and Debate team won its fourth consecutive Class A state championship last weekend in Butte. It’s the team’s eighth win in the past 10 years.

Wildcat speakers earned 134 points, Whitefish took second with 92, Havre placed third with 69 points, and Billings Central got fourth with 67.

Columbia Falls now has 11 state titles in high school forensics — more than any other Class A program. The win also ties a record for consecutive championships also held by Columbia Falls teams from 2000-03.

“I hope the community appreciates the unprecedented success the kids in our program have achieved over the past ten years,” coach Michael Christensen said. “It’s the kids themselves who’ve built this program and not simply made Speech and Debate cool, but established it as a program all the kids in our school take pride in and honor.”

Senior Taylor Hopkins was the team’s sole state champion. He competed in Impromptu Speaking.

“I’m excited,” said Hopkins. “I thought I would make it to state, but I never thought I’d be winning first. I thought I might make it in the fifth or sixth range.”

In Impromptu, competitors are given a topic that might be a cartoon or a quote. The speaker is given three minutes to prepare, and must give a speech up to five minutes in length based on the topic.

Competitors are judged not only on their ability to interpret the topic, but also on their speaking ability.

This was Hopkins’ second year competing in Impromptu and also his second year on the team.

He has placed throughout the season and took second place at divisionals.

This year, he said, he focused on being informed about current events. Often speeches are based on what’s happening in the news.

“Last year I got my speaking ability down and this year I worked to make my speeches based more on current events,” he said.

THE WILDCATS started the season in November by taking second place to Whitefish at the Polson Invitational. Whitefish had 64 points, while Columbia Falls had 61.

The next weekend CFHS came out on top over Whitefish, 83-82.

After a slow start at the beginning of the season, the Wildcats were able to win sixth consecutive tournaments in the regular season. Then last month they earned their fourth consecutive Northwest Divisional championship.

It’s been a season filled with a lot of hard work for many members — spending two hours each day after school practicing.

Marissa Getts, who along with partner Ariel Ramstad competed in Policy Debate, said she spent a lot of time not only practicing, but also doing research.

“In Policy Debate we spent 300 hours,” she said. “Debate does a lot of work.”

Team members credit a supportive environment along with their coaches for the success. Along with Christensen, Tara Norick and Alyson Dorr coach the team.

“We work as a team,” said Megan Spencer.

“(The coaches) are always there no matter what,” added Keri Potter.

Christensen pointed to past participants and the work of Norick and Dorr for the team’s success.

“I think it’s safe to say our program wouldn’t be able to continue its tradition of success without the past accomplishments of a Jeff Shafer, Stephanie Burgess, Nicholas and Kim Hannon, Shane Sorenson, Sarah Branch, Michael Grenier and Aimee Kellenbeck, Chris Wright and Eric Sheppard each serving as models and reminders of what can be accomplished with a lot of hard work and a little faith,” Christensen said. “Our most recent graduates continue to work with kids in our program and remain a part of that success through sharing their experience and time with the younger kids. Alyson Dorr and Tara Norick aren’t simply outstanding coaches, they’re outstanding people. What our kids gain through spending time working with each of those ladies goes far beyond medals and trophies.”

Another impressive season may not be that far from a reality next year. 

“This year’s team was the youngest group we’ve had among the nine previous state championship teams I’ve worked with, so our future is pretty bright,” Christensen said. “Every top program in the state has one goal at the beginning of the year though, and that’s beat Columbia Falls.”

The team will only lose five seniors this year. This season it has relied largely on the depth of its sophomore and juniors to be competitive.

“With juniors Laura Burgess, Heidi Brunz, Candance Ward and Jon Riffey returning, along with a sophomore class that rivals those who graduated in 2006 and 2007 led by Marissa Getts, Ariel Ramstad, Jesse Flickinger, Renae Nelson, Hannah Brinton, Ashley Carlson and Stephanie Christensen, I think this community and our school has a few more state championships to look forward to,” said Christensen.

“It’s important to remember none of this has come easily though, and no team should have to be measured against the past success of previous teams. This group and its accomplishments share one thing in common with every team I’ve ever had the privilege to be part of, and that’s the sense that at the end of the tournament year, we did everything we possibly could to measure up to our own expectations, achieve our one real goal, and understand that team and family are essentially the same…that if you care about the person working alongside you, you’ve already won,” he added.

Two seniors, Ben Donner and Patrick Ingham, have performed well throughout the season and in past years. Donner earned second place in Extemporaneous Speaking at state. Ingham was the state champion last year in Extemporaneous.

“They are the two members of our team who’ve never been anything less than state champions,” Christensen said.

Individual state results:

State Champion 

Taylor Hopkins in Impromptu Speaking

Second Place

Stephanie Christensen in Memorized Public Address

Christina Nadine Mark in Expository Speaking

Ben Donner in Extemporaneous

Ashley Carlson in Humorous Oral Interpretation

Third Place

Bralyn Joubert in Impromptu

Jennifer Jurva in Expository Speaking

Fourth Place

Ryan Cox in Memorized Public Address

Becky Griffith in Original Oratory

Marissa Getts and Ariel Ramstad in Policy Debate

Candance Ward in Serious Oral Interpretation

Jesse Flickinger in Extemporaneous Speaking

Fifth Place

Hannah Brinton in Humorous Oral Interpretation

Sixth Place

Renae Nelson in Original Oratory

Seventh Place

Jon Riffey in Impromptu

Eighth Place

Ben Burgess in Serious Oral Interpretation

Semifinalists

Kate Donner in Original Oratory, Riley Atlee-Mood in Memorized Public Address, Keri Potter in Humorous Oral Interpretation, Megan Spencer in Serious Oral Interpretation and Natalie Law in Extemporaneous Speaking.