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C-Falls Speech and Debate takes close second at Whitefish tourney

by Daily Inter Lake
| December 8, 2020 12:00 AM

The Columbia Falls Speech and Debate team kicked off the 2020-2021 season with a formidable showing at the Whitefish Virtual Tournament. Despite Columbia Falls winning the speech events, Frenchtown outpaced the Wildcats in debate, resulting in a second place finish by 18 points. Laurel finished third, and Whitefish took fourth place.

“The team was missing some notable competitors, but still managed to have an even performance when looking at the final placings. The team only missed out on placing in one debate event,” Columbia Falls head coach Blake Ladenburg noted. “That even performance across the events is very promising for us.”

Columbia Falls was led by first-place finishes by Chloe Coberly in Dramatic Interpretation, and Tre Finley and Emma Stephens in Policy Debate.

Ladenburg was pleased with the performance given the unusual start to the season.

“We are still adjusting to this new format. We will only improve from here.” Ladenburg noted that he still had several competitors who held off from competing in the tournament, “the uncertainty of this virtual format had a lot of our students concerned. I think we all feel more comfortable moving forward from here.”

Whitefish took fourth place overall, with first-place individual wins by Abigail Bowden in the Extemporaneous and Impromptu events.

“I was so proud of the team's willingness to overcome challenges as we held the first virtual tournament,” Whitefish head coach Sara Mueller said. “The team was flexible, self-motivated, and worked together to secure a fourth place finish overall. I’m looking forward to a unique, but exciting and successful season.

Earlier this season the Montana High School Association delayed the start of the speech and debate season by one month and announced a virtual format. They also decided there would only be one tournament per MHSA school classification each weekend, meaning only one AA, one A, and one B/C tournament a week. With the exception of divisionals, where two tournaments will take place, each week is a practice state tournament.

Each team needs to provide virtual judges for each tournament. If you are interested in judging at any tournament please email b_ladenburg@cfmtschools.net or muellers@whitefishschools.org

Individual Results:

Original Oratory

  1. Julia Sowerwine, C. Falls

Memorized Public Address

  1. Lillian McDonald, C. Falls

Informative Speaking

  1. Taylor Stephens, C. Fals
  2. Aiden Judge, C. Falls

Extemporaneous

  1. Abigail Bowden, Whitefish

Impromptu

  1. Abigail Bowden, Whitefish
  2. Chloe Coberley, C. Falls
  3. Paetra Cooke, Whitefish

Humorous Interpretation

  1. Ruby Davis, C. Falls
  2. Zack Tillman. C. Falls

Dramatic Interpretation

  1. Chloe Coberley, C. Falls
  2. Gabby Pickert, Whitefish

Public Forum Debate

  1. Stacia Tremper and Sophie Tabor, Whitefish
  2. Zoe Tremper and Addie Blackaby, Whitefish

Policy Debate

  1. Emma Stephens and Tre Finley, C. Falls
  2. Bethany Barnes and Emma Trieweiler, Whitefish
  3. Eleanor Hollingsworth and Finley Sundberg, C. Falls
  4. Gavin Carmichael and McKenna Ferril, Whitefish

Lincoln Douglas Debate

  1. Danika Tintzman, Whitefish
  2. Eddie Chisholm, C. Falls
  3. Luca Welle, Whitefish

Sweeps (team score):

  1. Frenchtown – 131
  2. Columbia Falls – 113
  3. Laurel – 102