Polson speech team finishes second at Bigfork
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BIGFORK — Polson High School’s speech team joined 20 other teams to compete at the Bigfork Invitational Speech and Drama meet on Jan. 18.
Although Jon Petersen, head speech coach, said many of the kids took a couple of rounds to get rolling, the team finished second in Class A speech sweeps behind Columbia Falls.
Loyola Sacred Heart won the Class B speech sweeps.
The Libby Loggers earned first place in Class A drama sweeps, and Choteau finished first in Class B drama sweeps.
“Our two standouts were Haley Kendley and Jacob Raymond. Haley had a couple of tough rounds during preliminaries, but she really nailed it during finals and finished in first place,” Petersen said. “Jacob was undefeated during the meet, but he narrowly missed making it into the final debate. It was unfortunate that he didn’t get the opportunity to debate for first place.”
Polson students who were finalists included:
Haley Kendley, 1st, Expository Speaking; Jacob Raymond: 3rd, Lincoln-Douglas Debate; Sharidan Russell: 3rd, Impromptu Speaking and 5th, Extemporaneous Speaking; Tommy Mercer and Sam Heutmaker: 4th, Policy Debate; Katie Stobie and Annabelle Smith: 6th, Policy Debate; Cash Sisler: 6th, Lincoln-Douglas Debate; Hannah Hodges: 8th, Memorized Public Address
On Jan. 11, 14 A, B and C schools competed at the Loyola Sacred Heart Invitational Speech and Debate meet held on the University of Montana campus. The Polson High School Speech Team finished second in Class A speech sweeps (team competition.) PHS Head Coach Jon Petersen commented, “I am really proud of the kids on the Polson team—this was certainly our best meet this season. We had several kids earn medals for the first time, and I feel we performed quite well, particularly considering several of our kids missed the meet due to illness or other obligations.”
Polson finalists were:
Sharidan Russell: 1st in Impromptu Speaking, 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking; Kania Smith: 3rd in Original Oratory; Shannon McGinnis: 4th in Expository Speaking; Brian Jore: 4th in Serious Oral Interpretation of Literature; Katie Stobie and Annabelle Smith: 6th in Policy Debate; Hannah Hodges: 6th in Memorized Public Address; Eleonora DiMaira: 7th in Expository Speaking; Cash Sisler: 7th in Lincoln-Douglas Debate; Haley Kendley: 8th in Expository Speaking.
Next up for Polson forensics is the Northwest Class A Divisional meet on Saturday, Jan. 25, in Whitefish. Students who finish in the top six places at the meet will advance to the Class A State Speech and Drama meet on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Hamilton.
