Speakers place second at Ronan meet

Despite the absence of key competitors, Whitefish pulled off a second-place finish at the Ronan Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament. Columbia Falls took first and Stevensville took third out of the nine Class A schools that competed.

Bulldog senior Tyler Schiff grabbed first and senior John Joern took fourth in memorized public address. Schiff has competed in speech and debate for four years. This year, he is competing in memorized public address and expository.

Schiff's speech was an address by environmentalist Paul Hawkens to the graduating class of the University of Portland urging graduates to value the earth and be more environmentally friendly.

"It felt really good to take first place," Schiff said. "I felt like I put a lot of passion into it."

Memorized public address is the presentation of speeches that have originally been presented by an author as a speech in a speaker-audience situation. The content of the speeches must have statewide, national or international significance. The address is the quoted material, while the contestant's analysis includes the historical background and the author's background and purposes in presenting the speech.

The Lincoln-Douglas debaters made a strong showing, with senior Josh Schott picking up his second tournament title this season. Senior Derek Janni placed fourth and senior Tanner Conrad finished seventh in Lincoln-Douglas debate.

All original oratory competitors made it to finals. Junior Julie Peterman placed third, junior Jessie Mazur took fifth and freshman Christa Konopatzke placed eighth. All three competitors were tied as they entered finals.

Senior Patrick Meehan placed sixth in Humorous oral interpretation.

The Bulldog speech and debate team next competes at the Flathead/Glacier Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11-12.