Speech and debate teams compete over the weekend

Kalispell teams commanded the top spots at a home tournament over the weekend.

In Class AA, Glacier High School swept up 273.5 sweepstakes points to take first place at the Kalispell Kickoff tournament with Flathead High School placing second with 111.5 points.

In Class A-B-C, Columbia Falls High School took first place with 53 points, edging out Loyola Sacred Heart. Whitefish High School placed third with 25.5 points.

Although the team sweepstakes points are scored by class, all classes compete against each other in individual events. There were five Class AA schools along with 10 other Class A-B-C schools from around the region.

Glacier had nine first-place finishes in individual events in both varsity and junior varsity levels. Glacier Head Coach Greg Adkins said it was a great start to the season.

“I know we had a great month of practice, and I know we have some outstanding returners and a huge class of recruits, but you never really know how we will respond to the competition, Adkins said.”

Flathead came out of the tournament with two individual first-place wins.

“We are a very young team this year, with a long way to go competitively,” Flathead Head Coach Shannon O’Donnell said. “The good news is, I have an incredible staff and a group of hard-working kids. I have no doubt we’ll see stronger performances as the season progresses.”

Columbia Falls also had two first-place finishers in individual events.

“This was the first AA tourney of the season for us, where we pit ourselves against schools who are much larger and with much bigger resources. We don’t come into these meets expecting to dominate, but I am proud of how well our competitors did here,” said Columbia Falls Head Coach Tara Norick.

Individual event results are as follows:

Varsity Policy Debate — 1. Jenna McCrorie and Emma Trunkle, Glacier; 3. Ian Caltabiano and Zach Kasselder, Whitefish; 5. Elizabeth Klemann and Ashlyn Cleveland, Glacier; 6. Jennifer Breese and Cora Tollerson, Glacier.

Novice Policy Debate — 1. Suzanne Loviska and Mercedes Altman Rebich, Glacier; 2. Hallie Massey and Parker Davey, Glacier; 3. Georgiana Tripp and Matthew Mason, Glacier; 4. Kierra Brown and Shyane Williams, Columbia Falls 5. Ken Wilkins and Trinity Schreiber, Glacier 8. Evan Hendrickson and Zach Hong, Flathead.

Varsity Lincoln Douglas — 1. Izy Lyon, Glacier; 2. Emmett Van Allen, Glacier; 3. Katie Stobie, Flathead; 4. Sierra Dilworth, Flathead; 5. Noah Love, Flathead; 6. Brittany Cory, Glacier.

Novice Lincoln Douglas — 1. Jon Sorenson, Glacier; 3. James Stafford, Glacier; 5. Robert Hurly, Glacier.

Public Forum Debate — 1. Keegan Siebenaler and Millie Espeseth, Glacier; 3. Matt Knuffke and Brendan Anderson, Glacier; 4. Liv Wilson and Morgan Baker, Glacier; 8. Cassidy Norick and Kelsey Wright, Columbia Falls.

Legislative Debate — 1. Abigail Roston, Glacier; 3. Tristen Lang, Glacier; 5. Isabelle Cuthbertson, Flathead; 7. Nick Brester, Glacier.

Extemporaneous Speaking — 1. Danny Morgan, Columbia Falls; 3. Sophia Skwarchuk, Flathead; 4. Zachary Ade, Whitefish; 5. Grace Cady, Flathead.

Impromptu Speaking — 1. Grace Cady, Flathead; 2. Trey Shields, Glacier; 3. Carolina Sierra, Flathead; 4. Sienna Riley, Flathead; 5. Reed Miller, Flathead; 6. Rylie Weeks, Glacier; 8. Kelea Ilac, Ronan.

Duo Interpretation — 2. Nate Lorenc and Drew Lorenc, Glacier; 5. Kenzie Berner and Jezalyn Schussler, Glacier; 6. Annie Jones and Hunter Driear, Flathead.

Humorous Oral Interpretation — 1. Drew Lorenc, Glacier; 2. Nate Lorenc, Glacier; 3. Annie Jones, Flathead; 4. Jerelyn Jones, Columbia Falls; 5. Kayli Burback, Flathead; 6. Hunter Driear, Flathead; 7. Aubrey Grame, Glacier.

Dramatic Oral Interpretation — 1. Brock Adkins, Glacier; 2. Brooklyn Lamers, Glacier; 3. Daniel Kohler, Ronan; 5. Korbyn Howe, Flathead; 6. Lizzy Olsen, Columbia Falls; 7. Joel Stewart, Glacier; 8. Moriah Schutt, Flathead.

Memorized Public Address — 1. Chloe Foster, Columbia Falls; 2. Aleesha Hillis, Glacier; 4. Joey Chester, Columbia Falls; 5. Riley Hoveland, Bigfork; 6. Nilla Swenson, Glacier; 7. Abi Vanorny, Glacier.

Original Oratory — 1. Brock Adkins, Glacier; 2. Rebecca Vance, Flathead; 3. Trey Shields, Glacier; 4. Abi Vanorny, Glacier; 5. Sierra Riley, Glacier; 6. Emily Kern, Glacier; 7. Aidan Fritz, Glacier; 8. America Mason, Flathead.

Informative Speaking — 1. Julia Wynne, Flathead; 2. Tristan Phillips, Flathead; 4. Alec Willis, Glacier; 5. Sienna Riley, Flathead; 6. Anya Young, Bigfork; 7. Nina Friedman, Glacier; 8. Regan Tintzman, Whitefish.