Speech team cruises to win at divisional tourney

The Columbia Falls speech and debate team dominated the Western A divisional tournament Saturday in Ronan, racking up 206 points for the championship. Whitefish took second with 122.

The Wildcats had first-place finishes from Laney Conger and Maggie McKeon in public forum debate; Jordyn King in dramatic interpretation; Ava Chisholm in humorous interpretation; and Jacob Hohman in informative.

The squad will travel to Corvallis Friday and Saturday for the state meet, where they’ll look to win their 13th straight title and 20th overall.

All 30 competitors qualified for state.

“These kids are at the school nearly every day after school practicing and working, and they give up virtually every weekend from November through January to compete in tournaments all across the state,” coach Tara Norick said. “I am proud to see all of our team make the cut to go on to state. They earned it.”

The squad won’t let off the gas. Even though it’s finals week at Columbia Falls, the practice schedule will be focused and intense before heading to Corvallis, Norick said.

Both Laurel and Whitefish are the teams to beat, she noted.

“We will continue to prepare, to practice, and to be focused on competing at the highest level. This will be the first time we go up against the competition from the Eastern Division, so we know this is not over yet,” Norick said.

Complete results:

Policy Debate:

2nd Shyane Williams and Danielle Schwalk

4th Calie Jo Johnson and Tre Finley

5th Ella Hutcheson and Ian McKenzie

Public Forum Debate:

1st Laney Conger and Maggie McKeon

2nd Cassidy Norick and Kelsey Wright

8th Lara Erickson and Jesse Rusche

LD Debate:

5th Gabby Merrell

6th Chloe Coberley

11th JJ Boles

Impromptu:

2nd Ava Chisholm

4th Madeline Jarvis

12th Paige Moriarty

Extemporaneous:

3rd Noah Golan

5th Sam Lovering

6th Madeline Jarvis

Humorous Interpretation:

1st Ava Chisholm

3rd Danielle Rosenbaum

7th Jacob Hohman

Dramatic Interpretation:

1st Jordyn King

5th Lizzy Olsen

7th Ave’ McDonald

Memorized Public Address:

2nd Emmalee Hellen

3rd Emma Erickson

4th Jordyn King

Informative:

1st Jacob Hohman

7th Kayla McDowall

11th Kennedy Payne

Oratory:

2nd Paige Moriarty

6th Haileigh Bayee

7th Danielle Rosenbaum