Speech and debate
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Polson teams bring home gold
COLUMBIA FALLS — The Polson High School Speech and Debate team finished in third place in Class A Speech Sweeps at the Columbia Falls Invitational Speech, Debate, and Drama Meet on Saturday, Jan. 9, with two teams taking first place.
Mollie Lemm and Katelyn Toland earned a first-place finish in Public Forum Debate.
“Mollie and Katelyn are just phenomenal,” Coach Jon Petersen said. “They have finished in first place in their last two meets, and they’ve only competed in a total of three meets this season. That is quite an average.”
In Policy Debate, Annabelle Smith and Sophia Speckert also took home gold.
“It was great to have Annabelle and Sophia win as well. They reworked their case over the holiday break, and they obviously made some significant improvements,” Peterson said. “They are a great example to the rest of the kids on the team—hard work pays off.”
Polson’s final regular season meet is on Saturday, Jan. 16 in Bigfork. The team will compete the following week at the Western Division Meet in Hamilton
“We are definitely improving in our speech events. Several of the kids just missed out on making it to the finals round. Hopefully we can get over the hump when we compete next weekend in Bigfork,” Peterson said. “It would be nice to build up some momentum heading into our divisional meet in Hamilton.”
Team Sweeps
A Speech: 1st – Columbia Falls (196), 2nd – Whitefish (110), 3rd – Polson (46), 4th – Stevensville {33), 5th – Hamilton (27), 6th – Corvallis (21), 7th – Belgrade (18)
B/C Speech: 1st – Loyola (66), 2nd – Ronan (32), 3rd – Bigfork (13), 4th – Cut Bank (2), 5th – Libby (1)
Ronan students place at speech, debate meet
COLUMBIA FALLS— Ronan High School took second place in Class B/C Speech and Debate competition at the Columbia Falls Invitational Saturday, Jan. 9.
The following students advanced to finals: Daniel Koehler - Dramatic Interpretation, second place; Jessie Lewis - Dramatic Interpretation, eighth place; Roman Hall - Humorous Interpretation, fourth place; Ryan Dresen - Humorous Interpretation, fifth place; and Jacob Dresen - Memorized Public Address, eighth place.
“Notable performances include several students who narrowly missed a trip to finals,” Coach Amy Miller said. Kaley Brown took ninth in Dramatic Interpretation, Katlynn Deneault took ninth in Dramatic Solo, Kiry Detwiler went 2-1 in Lincoln Douglas Debate for ninth place, and Kelea Ilac took 10th place in Impromptu Speaking.
On Saturday, Jan. 16, Ronan will travel to Bigfork for the Viking Invitational Tournament, and the next week, Jan. 23, the Chiefs and Maidens will compete at the Southern B/C Divisional Tournament, hosted by Missoula Loyola at the University of Montana.
