Wildcats win Frenchtown tourney by wide margin

The Columbia Falls speech and debate team racked up 188 points in its Class A victory at the Frenchtown Invitational over the weekend.

The debate side was led by a first-place finish in policy debate by juniors Callie Jo Johnson and Tre Finley and first place in Lincoln-Douglas debate by sophomore Raphe Salmon.

On the speech side, Isaac Adams, Griffin Conger, and Chloe Coberley took first, second, and third in dramatic interpretation, with an additional first place finish in extemporaneous by Maggie McKeon.

Coach Tara Norick was pleased with the results.

“We are deep into the season now, with just one preliminary season tournament left before divisionals,” she said. “We are happy to see the team performing well overall. This has been a challenging year for us, and it has required our kids to really step up and put in some serious effort to keep strong.”

The regular season wraps up on Jan. 18 with a tournament in Polson. Western Divisionals will be hosted in Stevensville on Jan. 25.

The top 12 competitors in every event at divisionals will get a ticket to the state tournament in Whitefish from Jan. 31-Feb.1.

There they will also compete against the top 12 from the eastern division, making for a challenging competition amongst the best in the state.

“There will be elimination in every event at divisionals,” Norick said. “Only the best 12 get to go forward. We hope to have a strong team to take to Whitefish, but we know that there are excellent competitors from multiple schools who will bring their best to divisionals. We will be working hard as we head into this final stretch.”

Sweeps (team score)

1st Columbia Falls 188

2nd Whitefish 116

3rd Frenchtown 55

Individual competitors results were as follows:

Policy Debate:

1st Calie Jo Johnson and Tre Finley

7th Emma Stephens and Shyane Williams

Public Forum Debate:

2nd Lara Erickson & Laney Conger

6th Damon Morris and Jesse Rusche

Lincoln Douglas Debate:

1st Raphe Salmon

5th Eddie Chisholm

7th Konnor Heindl

Humorous Interpretation:

2nd Isaac Adams

3rd Griffin Conger

Dramatic Interpretation:

1st Isaac Adams

2nd Griffin Conger

3rd Chloe Coberley

Oratory:

2nd Julia Sowerwine

Memorized Public Address:

3rd Julia Sowerwine

5th Suzanna Rosalez

7th Ave McDonald

Informative:

4th Aiden Judge

Impromptu:

2nd Sam Lovering

5th Maggie McKeon

6th Chloe Coberley

Extemporaneous:

1st Maggie McKeon

5th Sam Lovering