CORVALLIS — Ronan High School junior Jae Chinzorig made sure her entire team enjoyed the moment as much as she did as she was crowned pantomime champion at last weekend’s State Class A Speech, Debate and Drama meet in Corvallis.

Not quite believing the final tallies herself, Chinzorig placed her hands over her face and started to cry as soon as she realized she’d taken the top  prize.

“Jae was extremely surprised to take first, our whole team was moved by her reaction,” coach Melissa Knabe said. “When it got down to the top three, her eyes were getting increasingly large. . . She had the most delightful expression on her face when they called second place from Libby and she realized she had won.”

Chinzorig, an exchange student from Mongolia who is also on the varsity cheerleading team, performed “The Aquarium,”  about a girl who buys an aquarium and brings it home.  During the performance, she wore a black suit and painted her face black and white.

“Of course, I was really happy,” Chinzorig said. “The best part was I so wanted to take first place, and everybody stood for me and clapped for me. I was so glad.

“I really want to say thank you to my coaches, and to my family. . .and my team.”

Anchored by several strong showings like Chinzorig’s, both the Polson and Ronan  drama teams secured top-five finishes at state. 

Polson took second place in the drama competition, after team-veteran and senior Logan Garcia’s second place finish in the serious solo acting category. Garcia performed an emotional piece about a 14-year-old who hears voices, and the journey he takes to make them stop.

Garcia said the competition was tough, but he took the piece he’d worked on all year and made it work. Garcia felt good about his final meet as a high school drama team member.

“There’s 21 schools, so to take second out of so many is phenomenal,” he said. 

The PHS team leaned heavily on its drama veterans this year, only taking two debaters to state.

It’s all about the emotion for the drama team, junior Nation Garza said on Monday.

Garza and partner Josie Benedetti took third classical duo acting, performing the arguing lovers piece, “Miss Julie,” by August Strindberg.

“It’s always good to hear the audience laugh, or gasp,” Garza said.

An emotionally charged, sometimes cringe inducing performance showing a well-studied character is key, he said.

Sibling duo Molly and Rob Ricketts placed third in the humorous duo acting.

Fourth place finishers were John Bishop in serious solo acting and Larissa Hanson in pantomime. Following Hanson was NaTalia Arlint, who was sixth in pantomime. Classical duo actors Katelynn Mergenthaler and Delaney Kohler were eighth place.

The Ronan drama team came in fourth overall, behind Corvallis (first) and Libby (third) in the 21-school meet.

“It was a tough competition and those kids have worked hard all season,” coach Knabe said.

Chinzorig was followed by Shelby Fisher and Robby Hocker, who placed second in classical duo acting with their rendition of “Macbeth.” Amber Metzger placed third in pantomime with “The Waitress.” Andrew Crenshaw placed sixth in serious solo acting with “Five Minutes or More,” a piece he wrote for the competition.

Ronan brought four individual medals home, a strong finish for a team with only nine drama entries. Three Ronan students competed in the speech categories.

RHS team members will be presented with letters and pins at Family Night from 6-9 p.m. tonight, at the high school auditorium. Knabe said she hopes most will also be able to perform their pieces for friends and family.

Those PHS team members making it to semifinals or the top 16 earned points for the team. 

Besides the above PHS place winner were: classical duo actors Kelsey Koberg and Laura Barta, serious solo actor Katy Swope, humorous solo actors Ejnar Petersen and Shad Giles and pantomime actor Katy Swope.

Polson’s three Serious Duo Acting teams also made it to semifinals. The duos included Molly WhiteWater and Sydney Gambrel, Josh Ransom and Kyle Butterhof, and Josie Benedetti and Kelsey Koberg. Other students competing for Polson were: Mary Wiedrich and Logan Nutzman in Lincoln-Douglas Debate; humorous solo actors Barbara Kenmille, Niche McLure and Sydney Gambrel. 

In speech and debate, Columbia Falls captured first, followed by Billings Central second, Whitefish third, Laurel fourth and Stevensville fifth.