Stupendous speakers earn sixth-straight title

Make it six.

The Columbia Falls High School speech and debate team earned its sixth-straight state title Saturday at the Class A State Speech and Debate Tournament in Laurel.

Led by three individual state champions, the team had 184 points. Billings Central came in second with 126 points.

Jesse Flickinger earned first in extemporaneous speaking. Casey Bauer took first in expository speaking. Stephanie Christensen won in memorized public address.

“The team was led by the three individual state champions,” Coach Tara Norick said. “Our freshmen policy debate team, Mary Gross and Allison Foust, made it to the finals round at the state tournament. Wow. None of the other coaches could remember freshmen debaters ever being in finals at state.”

The win continues Columbia Falls’ remarkable winning streak. The team set a record last year when it earned its fifth-straight state title.

“What a great team to work with, so motivated and dedicated,” Norick said. “Each student has performed over 100 speeches in the months leading up to this tournament and the double-entered kids have done twice as many.”

The full team competed at state with much of the team performing really well.

“Twenty out of 21 competitors in speech were in semifinals and 17 were in the finals round,” she said. “Two of our three policy teams and all three Lincoln-Douglas debaters were in quarterfinals. We were really balanced between speech and debate. It was a fantastic performance.”

Norick thanked her assistant coaches for their hard work during the season.

“The assistant coaches Kim Gange and Krista Martens were instrumental in the team’s success as well as continued support from (former head coach) Michael Christensen,” she said.

Individual results:

Policy debate - 2. Mary Gross and Allison Foust, 6. Becky Griffith and Mason Gedlaman

Lincoln-Douglas debate - 5. Kaitlin Barnes, 6. Kevin Kuper, 8. Ariel Ramstad

Extemporaneous speaking -1. Jesse Flickinger, 2. Chance Morine, 3. Marissa Getts

Impromptu speaking - 2. Marissa Getts, 5. Jesse Flickinger, 7. Chance Morine

Original oratory - 2. Jinise Osborne, 4. Stephanie Christensen, 6. Natalie Law

Expository speaking - 1. Casey Bauer, 3. Jennifer Jurva

Memorized public address - 1. Stephanie Christensen, 5. Nathan Trinastich

Humorous oral interpretation - 2. Hannah Brinton, 3. Keri Potter, 7. Ashley Carlson

Serious oral interpretation - 7. Keri Potter