Bigfork takes fourth in Class B State Speech tourney

The halls at Bigfork Schools were teeming with students last weekend, but it was far from an ordinary sight. There were teens in full mime makeup walking past girls in colorful dresses while others in classic black suits headed up to the second floor with briefcases in hand.

It was all part of last weekend’s State Class B-C Speech and Drama Tournament, which drew 350 academics from schools across Big Sky Country who duked it out for championship titles in over a dozen events. Speech events ranged from impromptu speaking, where students were given only three minutes to prepare, to original oratory, where they created their own speeches up to 10 minutes in length. In debate, students argued about morals and policy while in the drama category, competitors showcased their talents in humor and classical acting.

Great Falls Central Catholic High School broke Loyola Sacred Heart’s 36-year winning streak to take home the Class B State Championship. Loyola came in second followed by Three Forks in third. Bigfork finished fourth overall among Class B schools with 57 points. Bigfork’s Mya Hartig was named state champion in memorized public address.

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

Also excelling for Bigfork was the duo of Anton Young and Elise Pendlay who placed third in policy debate, along with Elizabeth Hyde, who took fifth in original oratory. Josie Howlett placed fifth in extemporaneous speaking while Ben Keller finished eighth in impromptu and Emma Dawson came in eighth in the category of humorous oral interpretation of literature.

Adding to the excitement of the day on Saturday were widespread power outages across the valley — including the Bigfork area. Of the 10 calls that Bigfork Fire Department responded to that day, the most severe took place at Bigfork Schools while the state meet was going on.

A portion of a tree fell and knocked down the primary supply wires that crossed the campus, according to a Bigfork Fire Facebook post from Feb. 2.

The wires fell across handrails for the walkway and across a chain link fence creating a vey precarious situation. School district staff and the fire department worked together to establish a safety zone to ensure participant safety, the post said.

“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. ¦

Reporter Hilary Matheson contributed to this story.