Historic win for Flathead student

2007 grad grabs national speech championship; teammate is runner-up

The Daily Inter Lake

For the first time in history, a Montana high-school student became a national speech champion during the weekend.

Treza Hirsch, a 2007 Flathead High School graduate, is this year's champion of the Impromptu Speaking competition at the National Forensic League national tournament held in Wichita, Kan.

She did it by defeating her teammate and fellow graduate Neil Hilton in the final round of competition Friday afternoon.

The two swept the top placings from a pool of six finalists, and over a field of 454 students from across the nation who qualified and competed in the tournament in Impromptu.

"I don't know what to say - unbelievable, intense and remarkable," coach Greg Adkins said upon learning the news Friday evening. "What a day for Montana and what a day for Flathead High!"

Hirsch and Hilton were coached this year by Ivanna Fritz and Kala Lougheed, who were in Kansas to witness the historic event. The past two years, Sean O'Donnell and Sara Nelson coached Hirsch and Hilton, who started speech as freshmen under coach Sandra Vashro.

Hirsch, the 2007 State AA champion in Impromptu and Extemporaneous Speaking, competed in her third-straight national tournament this year, sweeping all rounds through her championship.

She defeated Hilton by six points and achieved a perfect score from six of the eight final-round judges. The other two judges gave the perfect score to Hilton - giving Flathead a monopoly on final-round perfection.

Hilton edged Luke Reilly from Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep School by one point to earn second-place honors. Third and fourth places went to students from Indiana.

Earlier this season, Hilton placed second and third at the 2007 State AA tournament in Extemp and Impromptu.

Both Flathead students earned National Forensic League Academic All-American honors this spring.

"Having Neil and Treza pushing each other all year helped them both," Adkins said, while sharing the credit with their coaches.

Before this year, the top Flathead performances at speech nationals came from Sheena Istre who placed second in Impromptu in 2002, and from John Hughes and Steve Lympus who placed third in Policy Debate in 1992.

Four other Flathead High students competed at the 2007 national tourney. Sophomore Katie Hoag and senior Mara Mercer were octafinalists in Extemp and Storytelling. Josh Kelly and Gaelyn Moore competed in Humorous Interpretation and Oratory.