Polson speech, debate earns bronze
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News from Polson High School
BIGFORK — The Polson High School Speech and Debate team finished in third place in Class A Speech Sweeps at the Bigfork Viking Invitational Speech, Debate, and Drama Meet on Saturday, Jan. 16. It was the final regular season meet.
Annabelle Smith and Sophia Speckert placed third in Policy Debate. Mollie Lemm and Katelyn Toland took fourth place in Public Forum Debate and Kenyon Cairns earned fourth in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
“It was good to see Kenyon Cairns get back in the semi-finals,” Coach Jon Petersen said. “He didn’t debate to his standard in Columbia Falls, so he decided to make some changes to his case. I think he knows what he still needs to change to improve his tactics for the divisional meet.”
Eighth placers include Alex Salois in Memorized Public Address and Geneva des Lions in Impromptu Speaking.
“It has taken us all season, but we finally got a couple of our speech kids into the finals round in two speech events. Alex Salois has worked with a tremendous amount of conviction this season, so I was happy to see him earn eighth place in Memorized Public Address,” Petersen said. “Geneva des Lions had a solid showing too in Impromptu. That is a difficult event for a sophomore, so I was proud to see her make it into finals as well.”
After the teams’ strong showing in Columbia Falls the previous week, Peterson said his debate teams were due for a little bit of a letdown over the weekend.
“It was obvious that the other teams prepared very well against our cases during the week, and they came specifically to beat us. That’s OK — we will have to work hard this week to return the favor in Hamilton.”
Polson will compete on Saturday, Jan. 23 at the Western A Divisional Tournament in Hamilton.
“Due to a reduction in the number of Class A teams this season, single Western and Eastern meets will be held rather than the historical four divisional meets,” Petersen explained.
The top 12 competitors in each event at the Western A Divisional Tournament will qualify for the Montana Class A Meet in Belgrade the following weekend.
In B/C competition, Ronan took first place in Bigfork with a tie-breaking win over powerhouse Loyola.
“Loyola has won over 30 consecutive state championships in speech, but Ronan is really starting to narrow the gap. It is amazing what a great job the Ronan coach, Amy Miller, has done with that program. I will not be shocked if they knock off Loyola in the next year or two,” Petersen said.
Team Sweeps
A Speech: 1st – Columbia Falls (185), 2nd – Whitefish (170), 3rd – Polson (47), 4th – Stevensville (18), 5th – Corvallis (6)
B/C Speech: 1st – Ronan (67), 2nd – Loyola (67), 3rd – Bigfork (26), 4th – Libby (9); Ronan won on tie-breaker.
Polson will compete on Saturday, Jan. 23 at the Western A Divisional Tournament in Hamilton.
