Local students heading to national speech meet

Nineteen local speech and debate stars rose to the top this weekend at the 2013 Montana National Forensic League Qualifier Tournament.

Twelve students from Glacier High School, five students from Flathead High School and two students from Columbia Falls qualified for nationals, which will be held in Birmingham, Ala.

Twenty Schools from Montana competed in the two-day tournament at Flathead.

Tanner Maroney, a senior at Glacier, celebrated qualifying for nationals for the fourth consecutive year.

He is believed to be the first student from Montana to accomplish this feat according to a press release sent by Glacier head coach Greg Adkins.

Maroney will compete at nationals in Dramatic Interpretation. He also qualified in Humorous Interpretation, but students are only allowed to compete in one event at the national level.

Glacier student Nick LaGrandeur also qualified in two events — Domestic Extemporaneous and Foreign Extemporaneous. He will go on to compete in Domestic Extemporaneous.

Other Glacier qualifiers with top scores include: Reece Erickson, Congressional Debate— House 3; Public Forum Debate team Ian Hollander and Izaak Castren and Hunter Garbacz in Congressional Debate — Senate.

Flathead top qualifiers include: Duo Interpretation team Wyatt Dykhuizen and Parker Kouns; Karl Boveng, Humorous Interpretation and Barrie Sugarman in Congressional Debate — House 2.

Glacier won the overall sweepstakes, Speech sweepstakes and Congress sweepstakes. They took second in Debate sweepstakes. Flathead took third in Congress and Speech sweepstakes.

The tournament concludes the 2012-13 Montana Speech and Debate season that included a third-consecutive Class AA state title for Glacier, a second place AA state win for Flathead and an eighth-straight Class A title for Columbia Falls.

• Policy Debate

National Qualifier — Val McMakin and Camille Garnsey, Bozeman

National Qualifier — Rosalyn Kutsch and Anna Atwell, Bozeman

National Qualifier — Monique Schoech and Mara Barnes, Columbia Falls

4. Katherine Cole and Vickie Conteraz, West

5. Alex Henning and Kara Denowh, Skyview

6. Dylan Ladd and Nicolena Boucher, Skyview

• Lincoln Douglas Debate

National Qualifier — Greer Wagner, Bozeman

National Qualifier — Lukas Dregne, Glacier

National Qualifier — Tommy Marts, West

4. Austin Roos, Bozeman

5. Claire Babcock, Bozeman

6. Brandon Pollard, C.M. Russell High School

• Public Forum Debate

National Qualifier — Ian Hollander and Izaak Castren, Glacier

National Qualifier — Noah Hill and Ruben Castren, Glacier

National Qualifier — Samantha Thomas and Shae Rowe, Helena

4. Gustavos Boling and Georgia Haniuk, Bozeman

5. Sean Van Dyke and Irvin Tran, Bozeman

6. Nate Sager and Abigail Gillespie, Sentinel

• Congressional Debate-Senate

National Qualifier — Hunter Garbacz, Glacier

National Qualifier — Kalyn Campbell, Hellgate

3. Jesse Diamond, Hellgate

4. Sam Heffernan, Sentinel

5. Aaron Lyon, Skyview

6. Ellie Lapp, Flathead

• Domestic Extemporaneous

1. Luke Wilde, Butte*

National Qualifier —  Bridger Christian, Hellgate

3. Garrett Hueffed, Hellgate*

National Qualifier — Nick LaGrandeur, Glacier

National Qualifier — Zoe Holman, Butte

6. Wyatt McGillen, Flathead

• Foreign Extemporaneous

National Qualifier — Garrett Hueffed, Hellgate

2. Nick LaGrandeur, Glacier*

3. Bridger Christian, Hellgate*

National Qualifier — Luke Wilde, Butte

National Qualifier — Eli Cornell, Flathead

6. Jessica Sheldahl, Helena

• Duo Interpretation

National Qualifier — Wyatt Dykhuizen and Parker Kouns, Flathead

National Qualifier — Nicky Manlove and Nina Gamell, Sentinel

National Qualifier — Calvin Seamons and Will Strand, Bozeman

4. Ian Strahn and Seamus Branch, Bozeman

5. Harrison Terriault and Ben Charleson, Hellgate

6. Weston Erickson and Mitchell Marks, Corvallis

• Humorous Interpretation

National Qualifier — Karl Boveng, Flathead

National Qualifier — Abby VanAllen, Glacier

3. Tanner Maroney, Glacier*

National Qualifier — Dac Cederberg, Sentinel

5. Ben Habel, Glacier

6. Kean Haunt, West

• Dramatic Interpretation

National Qualifier — Tanner Maroney, Glacier

National Qualifier — Rachel Tilman, Big Sky

National Qualifier — Karissa Chouinard, Hamilton

4. Whitney Cleveland, Hamilton

5. Bryce Tomas, Glacier

6. Harrison Howard, Bozeman

• Original Oratory

National Qualifier — McKenzie Watterson, Senior

National Qualifier — Clara Bachelder, Hellgate

National Qualifier — Keckeley Habel, Glacier

4. Elizabeth Dobson, Senior

5. Kira Means, Hellgate

6. Emily Morison, Glacier

• Congressional Debate — House 1

National Qualifier — Jed Syrenne, Hellgate

2. Max Thiebeau, Sentinel

3. Sara Christensen, Glacier

4. Serena Brosten, Flathead

5. Logan Schuelke, Butte

6.Gunther Clark, Butte

• Congressional Debate — House 2

National Qualifier — Barrie Sugarman, Flathead

2. Grant Germann, Glacier

3. Samantha Croft, Sentinel

4. Bayley Bowman, Bozeman

5. Matt McFarlane, Flathead

6. Madyson Rigg, Glacier

• Congressional Debate — House 3

National Qualifier — Reece Erickson, Glacier

2. Erin Olivieri, Butte

3. Ezekiel Peterson, Hellgate

4. Abbey Hege, Big Sky

5. Maren Lundgren, Skyview

6. Wyatt Catron, Skyview

* Students may only compete in one event at nationals. These students had qualifying scores, but chose to compete in another event.