Wizards of words open speech season

Smooth talkers from across the valley will put their skills to good use this fall in speech and debate.

The speech and debate season begins today for three Flathead Valley schools. Flathead, Glacier and Whitefish high schools will square off against one another and five other teams at the Kalispell Kickoff Speech and Debate Tournament today.

Flathead is the defending Class AA state champion. Glacier finished third at last year's state tournament. Following is a preview of the Kalispell AA coaches' expectations this season.

Flathead

Flathead High School has some of the best speakers in the state. The school has taken home the state title seven times in eight years.

This year, the team might look a little different, according to head coach Kala Lougheed.

"We're stronger than we've ever been in debate events," she said. "Traditionally we've been a more speech-oriented team. We have a renewed focus. ... It's a new role for us."

Flathead has a strong core of senior debaters returning to the program, Lougheed said.

Maxine Sugarman and Kenzie Weber, who competed in the national tournament last year, are back this season. Sugarman competes in Extemporaneous and Impromptu speaking and Weber competes in Legislative Debate. Tess Barker, a returner in memorized events, will be another speaker to watch, Lougheed said.

Flathead has a lot of new competitors in the interpretive events, Lougheed said, many of whom may surprise established speakers and coaches this season.

"They're going to wonder where these kids came from," Lougheed said. "These are young kids, new kids. ... They're really going to rock the house."

She declined to reveal the new speakers' names until after the kickoff tournament today, citing Flathead's "friendly rivalry" with Glacier.

Glacier probably will be Flathead's biggest competition this season, Lougheed said.

"The obvious favorites in the state are us and Bozeman, but that's grossly underestimating Glacier," she said. "If I were putting money on the top three, it would be us, Glacier, Bozeman, and I'd put us in that order."

The team also could face tough competition this season from Missoula Sentinel and Helena Capital, Lougheed said.

"I'd look for it to be a three- or four- or five-way race all season long. It's going to be an exciting year," she said.

Glacier

Glacier High head coach Greg Adkins agrees that his is one of the top speech and debate teams in Montana, and he has high hopes for the Wolfpack this year.

"We really believe we can be in contention [for] the state title this year. That's our dream," Adkins said.

The trick, he added, will be overcoming Flathead and Bozeman, the latter of which "has got to be the favorite this year," he said.

"We've got to beat Bozeman and we've got to beat Flathead. They've won every state tournament since the '80s," he said.

More than half the members of Glacier's squad are new to speech and debate, Adkins said. He estimates there are about 60 freshmen in the program.

"It's a challenge, but it's a good thing. You always want to be building that next level of students," he said.

There are some tough seniors on the Glacier squad, Adkins added. Abby Connolly started her speech and debate career at Flathead. For the last two years, she has been one of Glacier's top competitors in Original Oratory. This year, she's adding Extemporaneous Speaking to her repertoire.

Logan Warberg and Mary Snipstead are two senior debaters to watch out for, Adkins said. There are other seniors in other events who will be tough to beat as well.

"We have a really strong core of senior leaders this year," he said.

In addition to aiming for a state title, Glacier's goal is to take home a top-three finish at each tournament this season, Adkins said.

"Now, in two years, there isn't a team that we haven't beat in Montana," he said. "We've beat Flathead. We've beat Bozeman.

"It's just being able to do that consistently now."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com