Flathead, Whitefish tally wins at season opener for speech
The Daily Inter Lake
Flathead and Whitefish high school speech competitors racked up enough points in the season-opening tournament to take home team wins in their respective classes Saturday.
Some 300 students from 12 schools participated in the Kalispell Kick-Off, where Flathead won the Class AA title. Whitefish took top honors for Class A schools and Bigfork came in fifth place.
Flathead won 12 of 13 events, accumulating 247 points with placings from its varsity, junior varsity and freshman squads.
Flathead competitors Josh Kelly and Neil Hilton each won two events. Mara Mercer and Sara Hyde joined Kelly in making finals in three events each. Newcomers Katy Allen-Schmid, Garrett Peebles and freshman Connor Tice won their respective events. And freshman Novice LD debaters took three of the top four spots.
Head coach Greg Adkins cautioned against putting too much stock into the final results.
"Obviously, I am proud of our accomplishments," Adkins said, "but the competition is going to improve as the season progresses."
Next up for Flathead is Helena's City of Gold Tournament in two weeks.
Whitefish sent just 13 students to the meet, yet came up with a strong showing in debate to top even defending Class AA state-champion Flathead High in policy team debate. Debate coach Gil Jordan was pleased with the turnout from only two veterans and several first-time debaters who had less than two weeks of practice.
"If they can do that well on such minimal preparation," Jordan said, "I'm looking forward to how they will do with more time to get ready."
Pat McLaughlin, Montana's 1991 ABC Coach of the Year, is Whitefish's new head coach. That same year, she also led Polson High School to the Class A state championship. McLaughlin recently retired from a long career teaching English and French at Polson and now lives in Whitefish.
Next up for the Bulldogs is Bozeman's Class AA tournament on Nov. 3-4, where they will face Columbia Falls for the first time.
Bigfork head coach Charlie Appleby called it a great start to the season, with only about half the team making the trip to Kalispell. Of the eight competitors, five are new to the team.
Bigfork's Abby Rundle fought her way through a field of 46 competitors to win fourth place in Serious Oral Interpretation. Jerry Gaiser competed in his first-ever speech tournament and brought home fifth place in Humorous Oral Interpretation.
Team Sweepstakes
1. Flathead 247
(first place AA Division)
2. Whitefish 36
(first place ABC Division)
3. Browning 29
4. Stevensville 23
5. Corvallis 18
6. Sentinel 13
7. Bigfork 12
8. Cut Bank 6
9. Hamilton 55
10. Eureka 1
11. Harlem 0
12. Libby 0
Local Results
. Humorous Oral Interpretation - 1. Josh Kelly, Flathead; 5. Jerry Gaiser, Bigfork; 6. Justin Mailman, Flathead JV
. Serious Oral Interpretation - 1. Josh Kelly, Flathead; 2. Mara Mercer,
Flathead; 3. Angie Foreman, Flathead; 4. Abby Rundle, Bigfork; 6. Kayla Lindsay, Flathead JV
. Duo Interpretation - 3. Chante' Cox and Seth Pleasants, Flathead; 4. Sara Hyde and Josh Kelly, Flathead; 5. Justin Mailman and Amber Blodgett, Flathead JV
. Original Oratory - 1. Katy Allen-Schmid, Flathead JV; 2. Mara Mercer, Flathead; 3. Abby Connolly, Flathead Freshman; 4. Sara Hyde, Flathead; 5. Gaelyn Moore, Flathead JV; 6. Kyle Keenan, Flathead JV; 8. Alex Peterson, Flathead JV
. Memorized Public Address - 1. Mara Mercer, Flathead; 2. Sara Hyde, Flathead; 3. Krystie Kasperson, Flathead; 4. Megan Leininger, Flathead JV; 5. Josh Kingston, Flathead JV; 7. Rosemary Till, Flathead; 8. Dillon Foley, Flathead JV
. Expository Speaking - 1. Larkin Lane, Flathead; 2. Krystie Kasperson, Flathead; 3. Kelsey Smith, Bigfork; 4. Tyler Russell, Flathead JV; 5. Bethany Denton, Flathead
. Impromptu Speaking - 1. Neil Hilton, Flathead; 2. Josh Henning, Flathead; 3. Dan Browne, Flathead; 4. Annika Heinle, Flathead; 6. Jordan Neiman, Flathead JV; 7. Cassie Lloyd, Flathead JV; 8. Brandon Jones, Flathead JV
. Extemporaneous Speaking - 1. Neil Hilton, Flathead; 2. Dan Browne, Flathead; 4. Asunda Zimmer, Flathead JV
. Legislative Debate - 1. Jordan Allen, Flathead; 2. Ian Twamley, Flathead; 3. Victoria Zimmer, Flathead; 4. Jason Brown, Flathead; 5. Conor Foley, Flathead JV
. Novice LD Debate - 1. Connor Tice, Flathead Freshman; 2. Hannah Wahler, Flathead Freshman; 3. Carinna Torgerson, Flathead; 4. Maxine Sugarman, Flathead Freshman; 5. Logan Warberg, Flathead Freshman; 8. Liz Kruse, Flathead
. Varsity LD Debate - 1. Kory Johnson, Flathead; 2. Matt Schwager, Flathead; 3. Owen Goble, Whitefish; 4. Cailin Rogers, Flathead; 5. Tom Rader, Flathead; 6. Alex Andes, Flathead JV
. Policy Debate - 1. Edwin Haegele and Garrett Peebles, Flathead; 2. Ellen Scheffer and Erik Swanson, Whitefish; 3. Lachelle Davis and Michelle Maddock, Whitefish; 5. Ashley Sandler and Nicole Allen, Flathead JV; 6. Bridgette Baake and Justine Klein, Flathead Freshman; 8. Ian McKay and Andy Hudak, Whitefish