C. Falls dynasty wins 15th consecutive title

Teams compete through power outages caused by strong winds

By HILARY MATHESON

Daily Inter Lake

Columbia Falls High School Speech and Debate powered through a blackout on Saturday to capture their 15th consecutive Class A state championship title in Whitefish.

Whitefish High School took second place.

The power outage lasted a couple of hours according to Whitefish head coach Sara Mueller. The state tournament began Friday and was held at Whitefish middle and high schools.

“It went out at the beginning of the second round on Saturday,” Mueller said. “We had to move quickly to unlock doors which automatically secured and move rooms without windows to better locations. Because we were scoring by hand, not electronically, tabbing was not affected.”

“I was so impressed by the professionalism of the students who competed throughout and kept their sense of humor and the coaches who stepped up to help me move groups of students, hold doors, offer battery power packs to run equipment, and remind me that this was not a crisis. The team pulled together,” she added.

Meanwhile, Bigfork, which was hosting the Class B-C state tournament at its elementary/middle and high school, also competed through the power outage when part of a tree knocked down power lines on the school campus.

“The wires had fallen across handrails for the walkway and across a chain link fence creating a very precarious situation,” a Bigfork Fire Department Facebook post stated. “With the help of the School District staff a safety zone was established to keep all the participants safe.”

“We were worried a little bit,” said Bigfork assistant coach Charlie Appleby. “We had almost 400 kids there trying to all still compete which was pretty impressive.”

“We ended up putting kids in all the rooms that had windows and enough light,” he said, which became less complicated by the time final rounds began and less classrooms were needed as the competition was pared down.

Although competitors were camped out in a gym with no windows while waiting between events, students made the best out of the situation.

“They ended up putting on their lights on their phones, singing and having a good time,” Appleby said.

One of the unfortunate situations he said was the boosters club had started preparing a spaghetti dinner for students and coaches, which had to be canceled because of the power outage.

Ultimately, the Bigfork team finished fourth in Class B with 57 points. Bigfork’s Maya Hartig was an individual champion in Memorized Public Address.

“We were pretty proud of that,” Appleby said.

To secure the Class A state title, Columbia Falls amassed 256 overall points. State runner-up team Whitefish High School earned 216 points.

“It was a complete team effort. We only had one individual champion, which means we were even across the board to take home the trophy above Whitefish 256-216.” said Columbia Falls head coach Tara Norick.

In individual events, Columbia Falls competitor Isaac Adams was named state champion in Dramatic Interpretation.

Whitefish had five state champions, an unprecedented number of individual successes according to Mueller. They included: Grace Benkelman in Memorized Public Address; Logan Mercer in Humorous Interpretation; Danika Tintzman in Impromptu Speaking; Abigail Bowden in Extemporaneous Speaking and Bethany Barnes in Informative Speaking.

“This group of students is gifted and willing to work hard for competition, but they are first and foremost excellent teammates to each other,” Mueller said. “It was great to watch such professional competitors from all schools, who put in long hours, braved challenging competition, and competed through a power outage lasting quite some time. I am also grateful for the turnout from the community in supporting such a large and important tournament,” Mueller said.

Class A individual results

Policy Debate

2. Calie Johnson and Tre Finley, Columbia Falls

3. Emma Stephens and Shyane Williams, Columbia Falls

4. Finley Sundberg and Ava Foley, Columbia Falls

7. Gavin Carmichael and McKenna Ferril, Whitefish

8. Chaz Gillette and Grayson Butler, Whitefish

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

4. Raphe Salmon, Columbia Falls

6. Eddie Chisholm, Columbia Falls

Public Forum

3. Muriel Mercer and Rachel Rowles, Whitefish

2. Lara Erickson and Laney Conger, Columbia Falls

8. Damon Morris and Jesse Rusche, Columbia Falls

Humorous Interpretation

1. Logan Mercer, Whitefish

2. Eden Scrafford, Whitefish

5. Ave McDonald, Columbia Falls

3. Isaac Adams, Columbia Falls

Dramatic Interpretation

1. Isaac Adams, Columbia Falls

2. Lucy Schindler, Whitefish

3. Griffin Conger, Columbia Falls

5. Chloe Coberley, Columbia Falls

6. Gabby Pickert, Whitefish

Original Oratory

2. Julia Sowerwine, Columbia Falls

3. Lucy Schindler, Whitefish

7. Aidan Reid, Whitefish

Informative Speaking

1. Bethany Barnes, Whitefish

2. Gabby Pickert, Whitefish

3. Eden Scrafford, Whitefish

4. Aiden Judge, Columbia Falls

6. Anna Pickard, Columbia Falls

Impromptu Speaking

1. Danika Tintzman, Whitefish

3. Sam Lovering , Columbia Falls

4. Abigail Bowden, Whitefish

8. Maggie McKeon, Columbia Falls

Extemporaneous Speaking

1. Abigail Bowden, Whitefish

2. Maggie McKeon, Columbia Falls

3. Sam Lovering, Columbia Falls

6. Aiden Judge, Columbia Falls

7. Bethany Barnes, Whitefish

Memorized Public Address

1. Grace Benkelman, Whitefish

3. Danika Tintzman, Whitefish

Class B individual results

Humorous Interpretation

8. Emma Dawson, Bigfork

Extemporaneous Speaking

5. Josie Howlett, Bigfork

Memorized Public Address

1. Maya Hartig, Bigfork

Original Oratory

5. Elizabeth Hyde, Bigfork

Impromptu Speaking

8. Ben Keller, Bigfork

Policy Debate

3. Anton Young and Elise Pendlay, Bigfork