Columbia Falls wins Whitefish speech meet
Columbia Falls, Glacier and Eureka won team titles on Saturday at the Whitefish Invitational Speech Meet.
Columbia Falls amassed 193 sweepstakes points to win the Class A competition while host Whitefish was second with 170.
Glacier’s junior varsity won the Class AA speech and debate team scoring with 103 points and Eureka triumphed in the Class B/C drama competition.
“The team has been working hard and gave it their all—and it paid off,” Columbia Falls coach Tara Norick said of the Wildcat victory. “We know this win will give the team a much-needed boost before the holidays.”
Columbia Falls individual champions were Samantha Gilk in Expository, Ava Chisholm in Humorous Interpretation, Estevan Torres in Dramatic Interpretation and the team of Annabel Conger and Colin Norick in Policy Debate.
Whitefish was led by champions Sam Benkelman in Original Oratory and Zach Ade in Memorized Public Address.
Other area first-place winners included Declan Faulkner of Libby (humorous solo), Kim McDonald of Bigfork (Mime); Julie Tripp and Anna Cecil, Glacier (Public Forum Debate) and Catlin Hanson and Maddie Coffman of Eureka (Classical Duo).
WHITEFISH
INVITATIONAL
Speech Sweeps
Class AA: 1. Glacier
Class A: 1. Columbia Falls, 2. Whitefish, 3. Stevensville
Class B/C: 1. Loyola, 2. Ronan, 3. Bigfork
Drama Sweeps
Class A: 1. Corvallis, 2. Stevensville
Class B/C: 1. Eureka, 2. Bigfork, 3. Libby
Following are local place-winners at the Whitefish meet:
Extemporaneous Speaking
2. Abbie Belcher, Whitefish
3. Zach Ade, Whitefish
5. Danny Morgan, Columbia Falls
8. Kail Cheff, Ronan
Impromptu
2. Teigen Tremper, Whitefish
4. Abbie Belcher, Whitefish
5. Tim Ingham, Columbia Falls
6. Kelea Ilac, Ronan
7. Hayden Phillips, Glacier
8. Kyla Harris, Glacier
Expository
1. Samantha Gilk, Columbia Falls
2. Emily Getts, Columbia Falls
3. Teigen Tremper, Whitefish
4. Regan Tintzman, Whitefish
7. Shannon Frizzell, Bigfork
8. Danielle Rosenbaum, Columbia Falls
Humorous Oral Interpretation
1. Ava Chisholm, Columbia Falls
2. Ryan Dresen, Ronan
3. Kedryn McElderry, Glacier
4. Jerelyn Jones, Columbia Falls
5. Makkie Haller, Whitefish
6. Brandon Karberg, Columbia Falls
8. Saige Perchy, Whitefish
Original Oratory
1. Sam Benkelman, Whitefish
2. Hunter Cripe, Whitefish
3. Shay Reynolds, Glacier
4. Lauren Stratton, Glacier
5. Chloe Foster, Columbia Falls
6. Grace Olechowski, Bigfork
8. Emily Getts, Columbia Falls
Memorized Public Address
1. Zach Ade, Whitefish
2. Sam Benkelman, Whitefish
3. Akela Hammond, Glacier
4. Riley Hoveland, Bigfork
5. Austin Reese, Whitefish
6. Emma Erickson, Columbia Falls
7. Joey Chester, Columbia Falls
8. Chloe Foster, Columbia Falls
Dramatic Oral Interpretation
1. Estevon Torres, Columbia Falls
2. Jacob Hohman, Columbia Falls
3. Jerelyn Jones, Columbia Falls
4. Ella Van Vlack, Whitefish
5. Taylor Dannic, Glacier
6. Amanda Wiersma, Glacier
7. Logan Stencel, Glacier
Humorous Solo
1. Declan Faulkner, Libby
2. Zoe Savage, Eureka
5. Autum Fajotina, Libby
Dramatic Solo
4. Kaysha Hermann, Libby
8. Sophie Lee, Libby
Humorous Duo
2. K.C. Isaman and Damon Maitland, Bigfork
6. Hunter Steele and Hunter Carvey, Eureka
Dramatic Duo
5. Madigan Kinslow and Ben Johnson, Bigfork
Classical Duo
1. Catlin Hanson and Maddie Coffman, Eureka
Mime
1. Kim McDonald, Bigfork
2. Storm Steele, Eureka
5. Danica Cate, Eureka
Lincoln-Douglas
Debate
2. Gabby Merrell, Columbia Falls
3. Sam Bryan, Loyola
4. Tyler Brown, Columbia Falls
5. Avery Seefeldt, Glacier
6. Galen Jamison, Whitefish
7. Mikel Knutson, Columbia Falls
8. Jessica Green, Glacier
Public Forum
1. Julie Tripp and Anna Cecil, Glacier
2. Bergen Carloss and Kate Ehrenberg, Whitefish
3. Erin Scluesner and Sophie Benedetto, Glacier
4. Mary Ward and Anna Nicosia, Columbia Falls
5. Graham Friedman and Deagan Muth, Glacier
6. Cassidy Norick and Kelsey Wright, Columbia Falls
7. Mollie Lemm and Katelyn Toland, Polson
8. Julien Leroux and Solomon Ziegert, Whitefish
Policy Debate
1. Annabel Conger and Colin Norick, Columbia Falls
4. Ian Caltabiano and Zach Kasselder, Whitefish
7. Shayne Williams and Ruth Nelson, Columbia Falls