Columbia Falls wins third straight State Speech and Debate Meet title

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls High School used its quality depth to capture its third straight Class A State Speech and Debate Meet championship last weekend. It was the school's sixth state title in the last eight years, and the 10th championship overall.

The Wildcats placed 13 students in the finals, compared to five each by Whitefish and Billings Central. Head coach Michael Christensen said that all 21 of CFHS' competitors advanced to the semifinals, earning 42 points toward the team total.

Christensen said that coming out of the finals, the Cats created a final gap of 35 points between themselves and Whitefish.

Whitefish finished second in the state tournament held Friday and Saturday at Columbia Falls High School, and Billings Central was third.

Polson won the Class A State Drama title; Corvallis was second, and Belgrade third.

Columbia Falls had one individual state champion as Patrick Ingham took the Extemporaneous category title. In all, the Wildcats had 14 team members who placed in the top seven in individual events.

CFHS had a trio of state runners-up. Finishing second were Alex Prince in Impromptu, Maya Negron in Memorized Public Address, and Kerri Potter in Humorous Oral Interpretation.

The Humorous Oral Interpretation event was a key as the Wildcats went 2-3-4. Placing right behind Potter were Laura Burgess in third and Candance Ward in fourth.

Also placing third were Tiffany Gross in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and Melina Loeven in Expository. Fourth place went to Sami Venzio, Original Oratory; Tashia Shupert, Extemporaneous; and Ryan Cox, Serious Oral Interpretation. Earning sixth were Nichole Riley in Expository, and Sarah Marcille, Serious Oral Interpretation. Alicia Piquett placed seventh in Expository.

"Our depth over the past few years is due to our ability to recruit," Christensen explained.

The coach said that Montana High School Association representative Dave Fern, a state meet judge, commented on the CFHS' ability to make it appear "cool" to participate in speech and debate.

"I've always thought the kids in our program help recruit others," Christensen said. "Over the years we've had a great deal of success getting first-year seniors involved in the program, kids like Alicia Piquett and Sami Venezio, who bring maturity and new energy to our program.

"I think our kids aren't simply cool, but courageous, hard working and intelligent," the coach added.

It truly was a team effort.

"We've always operated under the philosophy that the only way everyone goes home a state champion is if the team attains the ultimate goal," Christensen said.

Christensen gave credit to his assistant coaches.

"Any year I have Alyson Dorr and Tara Norick coaching with me, I believe we have what it takes to win the state title," he said.

It was a challenge, since the Cats graduated 31 seniors out of the program over the last two years — returning only two students who had event experience.

"This is easily the least experienced team we've coached to a state title, and our reward begins next year with over two-thirds of the team returning, hopefully," Christensen said.

Only eight of those on this year's team were in Billings for the state meet last year.

This year's team members who were also on last year's state champion team are seniors Prince, Shupert, Negron and Gross; juniors Ingham and Ben Donner; and sophomores Burgess and Ward.

There were four key events for the Cats, according to Christensen: Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Humorous Oral Interpretation, and Extemporaneous and Expository Speaking.

Gross earned 14 team points with her third in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Christensen said CFHS has dominated the Humorous Oral Interpretation event for the last three or four years. The Cats earned 20 team points in Extemporaneous, and 14 in Expository.

Whitefish had three individual state champions. They were Evan Harris, Humorous Oral Interpretation; Katie Dodd, Original Oratory; and Joe Mazur and Adam Harris in Policy Debate.

Christensen is elated with the assistance he and his assistants received in hosting the Divisional and State meets.

"We had tremendous support from our community as we typically have had over the years," he said. "We could not host a state tournament without these folks' willingness to freely give of their time. We are appreciative of the many kind comments on the tournaments' organization and how smoothly everything ran from the community."

INDIVIDUAL STATE RESULTS

Speech and Debate

Policy Debate — 1st, Joe Mazur and Adam Harris, Whitefish; 2nd, Mitch Staley and Neal Jenne, Beaverhead; 3rd, Amy Dixon and Samantha Lange, Billings Central; 4th, Austin James and Danielle Babb, Butte Central; 5th, Stephanie Cabrera and Caitlin Brown, Billings Central; 6th, Alex Heimbach and Cassidy Robinson, Belgrade; 7th, Jake Danczyk and Derek Janni, Whitefish; 8th, Heather Connelly and Kati Hendrickson, Laurel.

Lincon Douglas Debate— 1st, Lucas Minnick, Havre; 2nd, Jordan Couch, Hardin; 3rd, Tiffany Gross, Columbia Falls; 4th, Cameron Bradshaw, Stevensville; 5th, Hayden Hooker, Hardin; 6th, Chase Brown, Billings Central; 7th, Ellen Scheffer, Whitefish; 8th, Thomas Elliott, Polson.

Original Oratory — 1st, Katie Dodds, Whitefish; 2nd, Christie Hanna, Belgrade; 3rd, Lena Olson, Bigfork; 4th, Sammi Venzio, Columbia Falls; 5th, Hannah Piearce, Whitefish; 6th, Rhett Lowder, Havre; 7th, Brynn Olive, Belgrade; 8th, Tanner Kanning, Belgrade.

Expository Speaking — 1st, Lorelei Hallock, Hamilton; 2nd, Kelsey Smith, Bigfork; 3rd, Melina Loeven, Columbia Falls; 4th, Kayla Meluging, Billings Central; 5th, Bekky Gratwohl, Laurel; 6th, Nichole Riley, Columbia Falls; 7th, Alicia Piquett, Columbia Falls; 8th, Hilary Rothstein, Billings Central.

Extemperaneous Speaking — 1st, Patrick Ingham, Columbia Falls; 2nd, Arthur Peck, Beaverhead; 3rd, Alex Miller, Billings Central; 4th, Tashia Shupert, Columbia Falls; 5th, Karissa Koberg, Polson; 6th, Chris Hagen, Billings Central; 7th, Julia Williamson, Whitefish; 8th, Kristin Roll, Havre.

Impromptu Speaking — 1st, Abby Rundle, Bigfork; 2nd, Alex Prince, Columbia Falls; 3rd, Anna Ziesak, Corvallis; 4th, Cathy Muskett, Billings Central; 5th, Sarah Driver, Butte Central; 6th, Tyr Hawkaluk, Ronan; 7th, Andrew Flakker, Dawson County; 8th, Ariel Riccardi, Belgrade.

Memorized Public Address — 1st, Cole McLaughlin, Belgrade; 2nd, Maya Negron, Columbia Falls; 3rd, Kayla Carlson, Bigfork; 4th, Laura Olson, Bigfork; 5th, Addie Kreikemeyer, Belgrade; 6th, Tyler Schiff, Whitefish; 7th, Hye Lim Park, Butte Central; 8th, Stephanie Christensen, Whitefish.

Serious Oral Interpretation — 1st, Megan Baker, Hamilton; 2nd, Tarayn Ryan, Butte Central ; 3rd, Brianna Kujawa, Butte Central; 4th, Ryan Cox, Columbia Falls; 5th, Ronikka Kendal, Stevensville; 6th, Sara Marcille, Columbia Falls; 7th; Kirby Sabec, Hardin; 8th, Ashleigh Gallatin, Polson.

Humorous Oral Interpretation — 1st, Evan Harris, Whitefish; 2nd, Kerri Potter, Columbia Falls; 3rd, Laura Burgess, Columbia Falls; 4th, Candance Ward, Columbia Falls; 5th, Becca Denning, Bigfork; 6th, Dylana Trotter, Hamilton; 7th, Brad Hoe, Hamilton; 8th, TJ Lipko, Polson.