No debate: Spoken-word domination!

Eloquence, patience, preparation, presentation.

Those are some of the elements that are critical to success in high school speech, debate and drama competition.

And students from Northwest Montana schools have those attributes in abundance, as witnessed by another weekend of incredible performances in state tournaments.

Columbia Falls High School won the Class A speech and debate team title, Flathead High School won the Class AA sweepstakes trophy and Lincoln County High School of Eureka won the Class B drama competition.

It marked the fifth year in a row a Kalispell high school has won it all in Class AA (Glacier won the last four titles) and a return to the top for Flathead, which last won the state title in 2009.

There was poignant historic symmetry in Flathead’s triumph — it was exactly 100 years ago that the school won its first state speech and debate championship.

Now that title count is up to an amazing 23.

While we’re on the subject of streaks, consider Columbia Falls, which has enjoyed a decade of dominance in Class A. Last week’s state title was the 10th in a row for Columbia Falls and the 18th in the school’s history.

Both Columbia Falls and Flathead didn’t just win state titles — they ran away with them. Columbia Falls amassed 245 points — more than the combined totals of the second- and third-place teams.

Flathead had seven students win individual championships as the team won by more than 50 points to put an emphatic exclamation point on a season where the top three Class AA teams had been within a few points of each other at most tournaments.

As these perennial powers were bringing home more hardware for their trophy cases, little Eureka joined the parade of champions.

Only six students from Lincoln County High School competed in the Class B state meet, but those mighty six roared to the first-ever state title for the school.

Every Eureka thespian placed third or better at state, giving Eureka bragging rights in Class B.

Competitors from other area schools — Glacier, Whitefish, Bigfork and Polson — also performed well at state as Northwest Montana again proved it is the center of supremacy in the Montana speech, debate and drama world.

Congratulations on jobs well done by all.