Col. Falls rolls to divisional speech title
Season wraps up at state meet
The Daily Inter Lake
Columbia Falls High School came home with the Northwest Divisional speech and debate championship after a road trip to Libby last weekend.
Now, as the team prepares to host the state tournament this weekend, Columbia Falls hopes to reclaim the Montana championship, as well.
After a season that brought only one loss and a sound thumping of defending state champion Whitefish at the Eureka tournament on Jan. 7, Columbia Falls left no doubt about who won the division title.
Saturday's final point tally came up with 189 for Columbia Falls, 107 for Whitefish and 39 for Polson.
"With the state tournament finally upon us," Columbia Falls head coach Michael Christensen said, "I do believe we have to be considered among the favorites along with Billings Central in the east, Havre in the central and Whitefish in the northwest."
State competition begins at 11 a.m. Friday at the high school and junior high and closes with the awards ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the high school gym.
"I think the valley will be well-represented at state by Whitefish, Bigfork and Columbia Falls," Christensen said. "These communities, along with Kalispell, have been significant contributors to our judging for state and I expect the students in these programs will represent their schools well."
Despite the team win, the final point tally at divisionals did not tell the whole story.
"I was pleased by our team's performance, but most proud of the young woman who competed on Saturday and did not qualify for state," Christensen said.
"Natalie Jackson, who won a number of tournaments this year, missed qualifying for finals in her event. She handled her disappointment with grace and dignity; in fact, hers is an example any coach could learn from. Natalie is one of our team leaders and more than anyone this past weekend, demonstrated the character of a champion."
For its part, the Whitefish speech and debate squad is hoping recent history repeats itself, with a little twist.
The Bulldogs' 83-point loss to Columbia Falls in Eureka was followed a week later by a rebound at Missoula Loyola to just an eight-point loss to their cross-valley rivals.
Head coach Gil Jordan now is looking to avenge the 82-point loss at Libby.
"Eureka and Libby were nearly identical meets, with nearly identical blowout results," Jordan said. "Both were small meets with not much competition beyond our two teams.
"The Loyola tournament, on the other hand, was very similar to what we will see at state - close to 20 schools with strong competition," he said. "At Loyola that seemed to neutralize Columbia Falls' strength, and we nearly caught them. State should be the same situation, only this time we hope to do even better than we did at Loyola.
"We've gone from being the early season favorite as defending state champions to being the come-from-behind underdogs, but we've still got a lot of talent and a positive attitude on this team, and we're taking 19 great competitors to state."
Individual results
Policy Team Debate - 1. Andrew Dahlen and Danielle Fagre, Columbia Falls; 2. Chase Giacomo and Nick Grinrod, Whitefish; 3. Nellie Lutz and Adeline Pepin, Columbia Falls; 4. Aaron Jungitsch and Joseph Peterson, Columbia Falls; 5. Ian McKay and Andy Hudak, Whitefish
Lincoln-Douglas Debate - 1. Brandon Norick, Columbia Falls; 2. Kate Eubank, Columbia Falls; 3. Jake deNeui 3rd, Whitefish; 4. Matt Gwiazdon, Whitefish; 5. Shane Hanson, Whitefish; 6. Tiffany Gross, Columbia Falls
Humorous Oral Interpretation - 1. Heather Jurva, Columbia Falls; 2. Nathan Kuehl, Columbia Falls; 3. Michael Samdahl, Whitefish; 8. Evan Harris, Whitefish
Serious Oral Interpretation - 1. Sydney Jordt, Columbia Falls; 2. Brittany Calderwood, Columbia Falls; 3. Annie Rottenbiller, Whitefish; 5. Emily Jones, Whitefish; 6. Catie Castle, Columbia Falls
Impromptu - 1. Alex Branch, Columbia Falls; 3. Michelle Cronquist, Columbia Falls; 7. Owen Goble, Whitefish; 8. Patrick Ingham, Columbia Falls
Original Oratory - 1. Porsche Erekson, Whitefish; 2. Tashia Shupert, Columbia Falls; 3. LeAnn Books, Whitefish; 4. Cassie Hollopeter, Columbia Falls; 5. Katie Dodds, Whitefish; 6. Jessica Rogers, Columbia Falls; 7. Vanesha Riley, Columbia Falls
Expository - 2. Laura Egbring, Columbia Falls; 3. Dana Gross, Columbia Falls; 4. Maya Negron Columbia Falls; 6. Ellen Scheffer, Whitefish; 8. Emilee Christensen, Whitefish
Memorized Public Address - 1. Noelle Niles, Whitefish; 3. Lindie Burgess, Columbia Falls; 6. Wes Bartowski, Columbia Falls; 7. Rose Peterman, Whitefish
Extemporaneous - 1. Jacob Fern, Whitefish; 3. Alex Riffey, Columbia Falls; 4. Terri Luce, Columbia Falls; 5. Ben Donner, Columbia Falls; 6. Holly Cullen Whitefish; 7. Brielle Menegazzi, Whitefish