Speakers take the crown at Loyola
The Columbia Falls speech and debate team wrapped up its regular season with a win at the Loyola Invitational meet in Missoula on Jan. 17.
The Wildcats had 142 points to second place Stevensville’s 68. The team will now tune up for the divisional and state meets coming up in the next two weeks.
The Cats had first-place finishes from Annabel Conger and Colin Norick in policy debate, two titles from Meredith Stolte in impromptu and original oratory, and a gold from Emily Getts in expository speaking.
“With the divisional tournament next weekend, competitors are making the last push to polish their performance and land on stage,” coach Tara Norick said. “We have a balanced team this year, with the points being evenly split between our speech and debate squads for the past several tournaments. The balance of strength on both sides will help us in our quest for our 10th straight state Class A title.”
Policy debate
4th Anna Nicosia and Tya Bonawitz
5th Ali Gould and Tya Bonawitz
Lincoln-Douglas
debate
2nd Mikel Knutson
4th Mary Ward
5th Gabby Merrill
6th Colter Norick
Extemporaneous
speaking
5th Cody Phillips
Impromptu speaking
5th Cody Phillips
7th Casey Shea
Original oratory
4th Casey Shea
6th Chloe Foster
7th Emily Getts
Memorized
public address
6th Bailey Duke
7th Joey Chester
8th Chloe Foster
Humorous oral
interpretation
2nd Ava Chisholm
6th Jenna Smith
Serious oral
interpretation
5th Bailey Duke
Expository
speaking
1st Emily Getts
6th Sam Gilk