Speech team looking forward to the postseason

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls speech team is hoping to regain its class A state title as the postseason approaches.

The Wildcats are down a bit in numbers from previous years, noted first-year coach Dawn Roe. The pandemic didn’t help any — last year was all virtual, meaning students competed via the internet rather than in person.

“It was very stagnant, repetitive and dull,” noted senior speaker Aiden Judge. Judge competes in memorized public address, performing a sermon from the 1700s titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

There’s a physical and emotional connection in even in speech competitions, both the students and Roe noted. So lastyear’s virtual format was less than ideal, and hurt recruiting.

But this year the in-person events are back and the Wildcats have been doing well, oftentimes taking first among Class A schools.

They’ll have to be in top form at state, however. Lurking just a few points behind (and sometimes ahead) every week have been Whitefish and Frenchtown.

They haven’t even seen the full Bulldogs team, team members noted and Frenchtown edged the Wildcats a couple of a weeks ago.

The Cats are led in part by senior policy debaters Emma Stephens and Eddie Mae Chisholm. They say the key, at least in policy debate, is building relationships during the competition.

“You need to have a discussion with judge; talking with them, not at them,” Stephens noted.

The girls said that almost every week they think they’ve lost going into the final round. But they have yet to not come out ahead this year, sweeping the class A titles in that event so far.

All told, the team has about 22 competitors, and while they can’t fill every event, the goal is to get enough points in the events they compete in to gain back the state title, Roe noted.

Last year they took second to the Bulldogs, ending a 15-year winning streak.

They’ve been putting a lot of time in. They said speech and debate takes up about 10 hours a week, not including tourneys.

For senior speaker Griffin Conger, he feels pretty good.

“I feel more confident than last year,” he said.

While seniors certainly anchor this team, they’re also seeing good things from some of their younger competitors, like freshman Carson Settles, who also competes in memorized public address, talking about all things, space trash. Which is to say, trash floating around in space.

While everyone wants to win their event, a host of second and thirds can be just as good for a team title.

In 2019, for example, the Cats won after a math error was found in the results.

This year, with Covid-19 lurking around every corner, the team is diligently wearing masks and making sure they can be as healthy as possible. No one wants to get sick in the next two weeks.

Roe teaches advanced math at the high school and competed in Toastmasters International, so she has a speaking background as well.

The team has done better than expected already, Roe noted. She is assisted by Ian Wheeler, Mikel Knutson, Alix Major and Ally Reamy.

The divisional tourney is in Frenchtown this Friday and Saturday. State is the following week in Corvallis.

Go Cats.