Columbia Falls sweeps divisional speech meet
Historic.
In a word, that’s how Columbia Falls head coach Michael Christensen would sum up his speech team’s performance at Saturday’s Northwest Class A Divisional Tournament.
Except for Memorized Public Address, in which one Columbia Falls competitor dropped out due to sickness, Christensen’s team swept the top three slots in all seven speech events.
“Our kids today achieved something truly remarkable,” Christensen said. “I’ve never been part of a group of kids who accomplished that.”
With seven first-place speech victories and a solid performance in debate, Columbia Falls handily won the divisional tournament Saturday in Whitefish. Columbia Falls finished the meet with 200 points.
Second place went to the hosts. Whitefish ended the tournament with 102 points.
It was a disappointment for Whitefish, which has struggled all season to field a full team and put up points.
“It’s been a real challenge getting the team rolling,” head coach Pat McLaughlin said.
She said she was hopeful that the comments judges provided her team might help them improve this week as they prepare for state.
The team did take top honors Saturday in Policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate; those events have been the Bulldogs’ strengths all year. But the victory was hard-fought in Policy Debate, which came down to tiebreakers between the top three teams, Christensen said.
Polson came in third overall in the speech and debate tournament with 14 points, but dominated the drama tournament with 147 points.
Second and third place in drama came down to the wire. Libby edged out Ronan, with final team scores of 64 and 61 points, respectively.
The meet was the teams’ final competition before the state tournament Friday and Saturday in Corvallis.
Results from the divisional tournament are as follows. Only the top six in each event advance to the state tournament.
Speech and debate events:
• Policy Debate — 1. Joe Mazur and Jack Hyer, Whitefish; 2. Marissa Getts and Ariel Ramstad, Columbia Falls; 3. Aaron Gales and Phillip Gales, Columbia Falls; 4. Matt Danczyk and Carl Kohnstamm, Whitefish
• Lincoln-Douglas Debate — 1. Josh Schott, Whitefish; 2. Logan Nutzman, Polson; 3. Tanner Conrad, Whitefish; 4. Kaitlin Barnes, Columbia Falls; 5. Derek Janni, Whitefish; 6. Mary Wiedrich, Polson
• Original Oratory — 1. Stephanie Christensen, Columbia Falls; 2. Laura Burgess, Columbia Falls; 3. Shiloh Knudsen, Columbia Falls; 4. Julie Peterman, Whitefish; 5. Christa Konopatke, Whitefish; 6. Joseph Dresen, Ronan
• Impromptu Speaking — 1. Jon Riffey, Columbia Falls; 2. Jesse Flickinger, Columbia Falls; 3. Cailey Philmon, Columbia Falls; 4. Claire Venery, Whitefish; 5. Emily Blumhardt, Whitefish; 6. Brynn Ingraham, Whitefish; 7. Selah Waldron, Ronan
• Memorized Public Address — 1. Stephanie Christensen, Columbia Falls; 2. Melissa Carr, Columbia Falls; 3. Haley Hill, Whitefish; 4. John Joern, Whitefish; 5. Tyler Schiff, Whitefish
• Expository Speaking — 1. Keri Potter, Columbia Falls; 2. Jennifer Jurva, Columbia Falls; 3. Kate Donner, Columbia Falls; 4. Tyler Schiff, Whitefish
• Extemporaneous Speaking — 1. Jon Riffey, Columbia Falls; 2. Jesse Flickinger, Columbia Falls; 3. Natalie Law, Columbia Falls; 4. John Joern, Whitefish; 5. Haley Hill, Whitefish
• Humorous Oral Interpretation — 1. Laura Burgess, Columbia Falls; 2. Hannah Brinton, Columbia Falls; 3. Candance Ward-Shears, Columbia Falls; 4. Patrick Meehan, Whitefish
• Serious Oral Interpretation — 1. Keri Potter, Columbia Falls; 2. Ashley Carlson, Columbia Falls; 3. Candance Ward-Shears, Columbia Falls; 4. Jenni Vail, Whitefish; 5. Jassica Surechief, Ronan; 6. Savannah Funk-Fisher, Ronan
Drama events:
• Humorous Duo — 1. Molly Ricketts and Robbie Ricketts, Polson; 2. Paige Bothman and Jason Shikora, Libby; 3. Shelby Fisher and Robby Hocker, Ronan; 4. Jessica Broderick and Justin Lauer, Libby; 5. Jae Chinzorig and Jan Kaczor, Ronan; 6. Ejnar Petersen and Shad Giles, Polson; 7. Jonelle Lauer and Andrew Crenshaw, Ronan; 8. Beth James and Niche McLure, Polson
• Serious Duo — 1. Jolee Holder and Miranda Raab, Libby; 2. Josie Benedetti and Kelsey Koberg, Polson; 3. Sydney Gambrel and Molly Whitewater, Polson; 4. Josh Ransom and Kyle Butterhof, Polson
• Classical Duo — 1. Delaney Kohler and Katelynn Mergenthaler, Polson; 2. Shelby Fisher and Robby Hocker, Ronan; 3. Josie Benedetti and Nation Garza, Polson; 4. Kelsey Koberg and Laura Barta, Polson; 5. Mike Wise and Elizabeth Rogers, Libby; 6. Eli Miller and Erin Rogers, Libby
• Humorous Solo — 1. Barbara Kenmille, Polson; 2. Mike Wise, Libby; 3. Sydney Gambrel, Polson; 4. Niche McLure, Polson
• Serious Solo — 1. Logan Garcia, Polson; 2. Andrew Crenshaw, Ronan; 3. John Bishop, Polson; 4. Katie Swope, Polson
• Pantomime — 1. Amber Metzger, Ronan; 2. Austin Butler, Ronan; 3. John Vinion, Libby; 4. Larissa Hanson, Polson; 5. NaTalia Arlint, Polson; 6. Jae Chinzorig, Ronan; 7. Katie Swope, Polson