800 expected for speech meet

Flathead and Glacier high schools are still looking for community members as judges for Friday and Saturday’s Western Regional Speech and Debate Tournament in Kalispell.

The tournament will feature 25 varsity and junior varsity teams — close to 800 students from around the state.

Judges from the community volunteer more than 900 hours to hold a tournament of this size, according to Glacier head coach Greg Adkins. Judges may choose to judge one or more events.

People who want to serve as judges may sign up online at kalispellspeechdebate.org or call Wendy Putzler at 751-3574.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 200 rounds of judging needed to be filled.

The tournament will feature the very best in competitive forensics including the reigning state champion teams — Flathead (Class AA), Columbia Falls (Class A) and Loyola (Class B).

Other teams competing include Bigfork, Big Sky, Helena Capital, Corvallis, Glacier, Hamilton, Helena, Hellgate, Polson, Sentinel, Stevensville and Whitefish.

In last year’s Western Regional tournament, Glacier edged Flathead 215 to 195.5 for the Class AA sweepstakes win and Columbia Falls captured Class A with 93 sweepstakes points.  

Opening rounds at each high school will begin at 2 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday.

Speech events will be held at Flathead while Glacier will host debate events.

An awards ceremony will be at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Glacier High School Performance Hall.