Flathead, Glacier poised to excel at state meet

For the last several years, the Class AA Speech and Debate Tournament has been a three-way battle for the title. Local coaches say that tradition will hold up again today and tomorrow in Great Falls, as Glacier, Flathead and Bozeman high schools fight for first place.

“We know it could go any way. Those three teams are so close this year,” Glacier head coach Greg Adkins said.

Bozeman claimed the state title in 2010. Flathead won in a nail-biter in 2009. One of those two teams has won every state championship since 1982.

But in 2008, Glacier High School entered the fray. This year’s team has five first-place finishes during the regular season to its credit, including at the last two tournaments in Billings and Butte when the team squared off against Flathead and Bozeman.

That doesn’t mean the Wolfpack is sure of winning its first state trophy, Adkins said.

“I’ve been saying all season that I really think that Flathead is the top team in the state,” he said. “They just have some really amazing students.”

On paper, at least, Flathead hasn’t “quite had the season that they thought they would, but that could all change this weekend,” he added. “And Bozeman is really, really tough. They have great debaters, great coaches, a couple of really good speech kids.”

Flathead head coach Karen Downes also anticipates close competition this weekend between her team, Glacier and Bozeman.

“It always makes for a very exciting end to the tournament. Usually it comes down to the very last events coming in,” she said. “It certainly boosts the level of drama at the end of the meet.”

Downes said her “short prep squad” — those students who compete in Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking — will be tough to beat at state. Hannah Anderson, Elena Musz and Jon Alan Osborne each compete in both events.

“They’re consistently high performers,” Downes said.

Flathead also will depend on its Lincoln-Douglas debaters to bring in points, she said. Zac Parker, Hannah Wilson, Emily Stoick and Sam Watson are some of the top debaters on Flathead’s squad.

“They’re four seniors, and they’ve consistently proven themselves over the year,” Downes said.

As a team, Downes said she wants her students to walk away from the tournament knowing they did all they could.

“Our team goal is just to have no regrets about this being our last regular meet together, to pull out all the stops and do their very best,” she said. “Of course, everybody has their eye on first place at state. It’s certainly within our gasp.”

They’ll have to get past Glacier, though — and Adkins’ well-balanced team could put up a fight.

“In every event, we have someone who could be state champion,” said Adkins, adding that Extemporaneous Speaking is the only event Glacier hasn’t had a first-place finish in this season.

“In the past, we knew our top kids had to do well, and our top kids were limited to a handful of kids,” he said. “Now this kid could win, this kid could win, this kid could win ... that’s why we’ve done well” during the regular season.

In Serious Oral Interpretation and Memorized Public Address, “Caroline Houser has had a tremendous season,” Adkins said.

Quinn Maroney will be a contender in Original Oratory.

“She’s been part of our team for four years and never had the success ’til this year that we knew that she could have,” he said.

Brandon Simpson and Ashley Berger will be tough to beat in Policy Debate, and Tucker Connell and Logan Hendrix have been a strong Public Forum Debate team all season, Adkins said.

“They could surely win the state tournament,” he said.

That’s the goal this weekend, Adkins said.

“Obviously we want to win state, but so much of that is out of our hands,” he said.

So he wants his squad to compete at the level they’re capable of and “continue to do all the things we’ve asked of them and hope everything works out the way it should,” he said.

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