Columbia Falls speech and debate team wins state A title, its 23rd

The Columbia Falls speech and debate team ran the table, coming away with its 23rd state class A championship.

The Wildcats had five first-place finishers and 17 others that placed in the two-day tournament in Sidney Friday and Saturday.

Aiden Rohn and Brayden Crawford were first in public forum debate; Zack Tillman and Lucas Counts took the title in duo interpretation; and Carson Settles was first in informative.

The Wildcats were undefeated among Class A competition this season. This year the team simply outpaced its class A competition at every meet, including state. Some members competed in more than one-event, a grueling exercise if there ever was one. This is the first state title for head coach Dawn Roe.

“It’s been an amazing season,” Roe said.

Other placers at Sidney included:

Eddie Chisholm - third in Lincoln Douglas debate

Reed Wollenzein and Carson Settles - third in duo interpretation

Ruby Davis - third in informative

Elli Sandstrom and Ruby Davis - fourth in duo interpretation

Lauren Rogers and Boone Shanks - fourth in policy debate

Makinzie Taylor - fourth in humorous interpretation

Ava Minns - Prezeau and Celestine Young - fifth in policy debate

Eleanor Hollingsworth and Kynsleigh Gould - sixth in policy debate

Julianna MacPherson and Selah Heinzen - sixth in public forum debate

Quinn Caudle and Logan Emerson - seventh in public forum debate

Alanna Milhollen - seventh in Lincoln Douglas Debate

The Wildcats still have one tournament left, as they travel to Missoula next month to compete in national qualifiers, Roe said.

The team won 15 straight titles up until 2020. They took second in 2021 and 2022.