Speech earns divisional crown

They’ve done it again.

The Columbia Falls High Speech and Debate team earned its fourth consecutive Northwest Divisional championship last weekend at Ronan.

In the past four years the team has only lost two tournaments. That makes this win the 38th tournament victory out of the 40 entered.

The team scored 175 points in Ronan. Whitefish took second place with 111 points, and Bigfork came in third with 23, followed by Polson in fourth with 19.

The Wildcats established a new record for total sweepstakes points earned at a divisional tournament by a Columbia Falls squad.

“At this point, we have to accept the role of favorite going into the state tournament,” said coach Michael Christensen. “We’re the three-time defending state champions and this year’s team,

though for the most part young and inexperienced, has held up well in working to achieve both their individual goals and our goal as a team to compete for the state championship each year.”

This weekend  the team heads to the state tournament at Montana Tech in Butte. The tournament is hosted by Butte Central.

“The 26 kids we’ll be taking to state have been a joy to work with this year, and as I inch nearer to retirement, I seriously reflect on what a privilege it’s been to work with these kids, alongside our coaches, Tara Norick and Alyson Dorr,” Christensen said. “This community has a great deal to be proud of, and I hope they recognize the level of excellence Columbia Falls High School has maintained in the speech and debate program for over 30 years, and that that tradition boils down to a single constant, and that’s the kids themselves.”

The coach pointed to the hard work put forth by the competitors and assistant coaches as the reason for the team’s success.

Ben Donner earned first place in Extemporaneous Speaking at divisionals — his first win of the year.

“Ben Donner commented at divisionals that this was the first tournament this year he’d won, and truth be told, I don’t know anyone whose worked harder and has been more committed to improving this year than Ben, and Ben would acknowledge that much of that is due to the work Tara Norick does with him,” said Christensen.

Columbia Falls competitors took the top three spots in two events — Impromptu and Humorous Oral Interpretation — at the tournament.

“Tara’s work in impromptu with Jon Riffey, Bralyn Joubert and Taylor Hopkins is remarkable in that each of those kids has won tournaments this year, and they have consistently been among the best at all levels of competition,” said Christensen.

He also applauded coach Dorr and those competing in Humorous Oral Interpretation.

“Alyson Dorr’s group in Humorous Oral Interpretation is again among the finest in the state, and each of those three young ladies, Keri Potter, Ashley Carlson and Hannah Brinton, have won tournaments this year,” he said. “Alyson’s ability to get the kids excited and energized prior to each round of competition has simply been a key to all the success we’ve enjoyed.”

Christina Mark, who has been consistent in placing this season, earned first place in Expository Speaking.

“Christina Mark has to be one of the most competitive and determined young women I’ve ever met. Christina achieved something rarely achieved in final round competition at divisional — she was ranked first by all three judges in the round,” said Christensen.

The Wildcats had competitors place across the board in both Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Policy Debate. Patrick Ingham earned first place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

“Our debaters put in more time than anyone on the team, and their work ethic and dedication continues to make up for their youth and inexperience,” Christensen said. “Patrick Ingham essentially worked the entire week, starting from scratch, to reconstruct cases on both sides of the Lincoln-Douglas topic that would be more effective in competition and his reward was going undefeated at divisionals against the best group of Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the state.”

Besides instruction from the coaches this year’s team has also had help from kids who previously graduated.

“Another strength for this team this year has been the willingness of our alumni to return and work with us over Christmas or throughout the year,” Christensen noted. “The efforts of Lindie Burgess, Brandon Norick, Aaron Jungnitsch, Brittany Calderwood and others has reinforced for our current group the value of looking at this team as essentially a second family.”

Although Columbia Falls has enjoyed success there aren’t plans to relax in the days before the state competition.

“We plan to work awfully hard over the remaining few days leading into state competition, and we expect to put our hard work to the test against Billings Central, Havre, Belgrade and others and perform well,” Christensen said.

The team’s strength may just carry over into next year’s season as well.

“The good news is, at the end of this year, of the 26 kids who will compete for us at state, 20 will return to compete for us next year,” said Christensen.

Individual divisional results:

1st place (divisional champions)

Patrick Ingham – Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Christina Mark – Expository Speaking

Ben Donner – Extemporaneous Speaking

Ashley Carlson – Humorous Oral Interpretation

Jon Riffey – Impromptu Speaking

2nd place (silver medalists)

Becky Griffith – Original Oratory

Jennifer Jurva – Expository Speaking

Hannah Brinton – Humorous Oral Interpretation

Taylor Hopkins – Impromptu

Ben Burgess – Serious Oral Interpretation

Ryan Cox – Memorized Public Address

Ariel Ramstad and Marissa Getts – Policy Debate

3rd place

Renae Nelson – Original Oratory

Jesse Flickinger – Extemporaneous Speaking

Keri Potter – Humorous Oral Interpretation

Bralyn Joubert – Impromptu Speaking

4th place

Kate Donner – Original Oratory

Candance Ward – Serious Oral Interpretation

Stephanie Christensen – Memorized Public Address

Laura Burgess and Heidi Brunz – Policy Debate

5th place

Natalie Law – Extemporaneous Speaking

Megan Spencer – Serious Oral Interpretation

6th place

Amanda Johnson – Lincoln-Douglas Debate

7th place

Riley Atlee-Mood – Memorized Public Address