C. Falls shines at divisional meet

Columbia Falls High School is undefeated heading into the state tournament after a decisive victory at the Northwest Class A Divisional Speech, Debate and Drama Tournament in Libby Saturday.

Columbia Falls finished the meet with 231 points, five times the score of second-place Polson, which finished with 46 points. Whitefish came in third with 32 points.

Libby won the drama meet, followed by Ronan and Polson.

Columbia Falls took first in all but one speech and debate event. Molly Ricketts of Polson finished first in Humorous Oral Interpretation.

“The balanced effort from both debate and speech led to such a strong victory,” Columbia Falls head coach Tara Norick said. “Both Polson and Whitefish had strong individual competitors that kept us from sweeping the events, and we will see very strong competition next week.”

That strong competition will be found at the Class A state tournament, which will be held in Laurel. Columbia Falls has won the last five state titles.

Columbia Falls chalked up another honor at the divisional meet: Norick was chosen by the division’s other coaches as the 2011 Northwest Class A Coach of the Year.

Norick, who is in her first year as head coach at Columbia Falls, won the award last year as an assistant coach. She was later chosen as the overall 2010 Class A Coach of the Year.

Local results from the divisional meet are as follows:

• Policy Debate — 1. Mary Allison and Allison Foust, Columbia Falls; 2. Becky Griffith and Mason Gedlaman, Columbia Falls; 3. Logan Nutzman and Kelsey Koberg, Polson; 4. Eric DeLay and Reed Hovenkotter, Polson; 5. Shelby Greene and Wolfie Dailing, Columbia Falls; 6. Thomas Henson and Ian MacFarlene, Whitefish

• Lincoln-Douglas Debate — 1. Ariel Ramstad, Columbia Falls; 2. Kevin Kupter, Columbia Falls; 3. Kaitlin Barnes, Columbia Falls; 4. Lynda Vega, Whitefish

• Extemporaneous Speaking — 1. Marissa Getts, Columbia Falls; 2. Jesse Flickinger, Columbia Falls; 3. Chance Morine, Columbia Falls; 4. Selah Waldron, Polson

• Impromptu Speaking — 1. Molly Ricketts, Polson; 2. Chance Morine, Columbia Falls; 3. Marissa Getts, Columbia Falls; 4. Jesse Flickinger, Columbia Falls; 5. Sloan Ellis, Whitefish

• Expository Speaking — 1. Casey Bauer, Columbia Falls; 2. Jennifer Jurva, Columbia Falls; 3. Kate Donner, Columbia Falls; 4. Hania Kozial, Whitefish

• Memorized Public Address — 1. Blake Ladenburg, Columbia Falls; 2. Nathan Trinastich, Columbia Falls; 3. Stephanie Christensen, Columbia Falls

• Humorous Oral Interpretation — 1. Hannah Brinton, Columbia Falls; 2. Ashley Carlson, Columbia Falls; 3. Emily Morison, Whitefish; 4. Keri Potter, Columbia Falls; 7. Zach Calhoun, Polson

• Serious Oral Interpretation — 1. Keri Potter, Columbia Falls; 2. Kelsey Reese, Columbia Falls; 3. Brittney Cotton, Columbia Falls; 4. James Larson, Polson; 6. Gabby Link, Polson

• Original Oratory — 1. Jinise Osborne, Columbia Falls; 2. Julie Peterman, Whitefish; 3. Elsa Dodds, Whitefish; 4. Stephanie Christensen, Columbia Falls; 5. Natalie Law, Columbia Falls

• Serious Duo — 5. Isak Peterson and Jarrod Plant, Polson

• Humorous Duo — 3. Jerry Wachal and Delaney Kohler, Polson; 4. Nation Garza and Krysta Seville, Polson

• Classical Duo — 2. Sydney Gambrel and Laura Barta, Polson

• Serious Solo — 1. Nation Garza, Polson; 6. Molly Whitewater, Polson; 7. Eryn McGinnis, Polson

• Humorous Solo — 2. Delaney Kohler, Polson; 5. Emmy Driscoll, Polson

• Pantomime — 3. Larissa Hanson, Polson; 4. Sierra Pete, Polson