Columbia Falls won its fifth straight Class A state speech and debate title on Saturday — but it’s the victory that almost wasn’t.

“Going into finals, we were 60 points behind,” head coach Michael Christensen said.

His team had no idea they were losing to Billings Central, who Columbia Falls faced for the first time all season at the state tournament in Corvallis Friday and Saturday. Christensen said that despite the team’s position, he and the other coaches were confident they could pull into the lead.

“We told them essentially ... to simply go in there and enjoy the experience. Speak to the audience from the heart; speak the truth and entertain,” he said. “And that’s kind of what they did.”

Their efforts in the final round carried Columbia Falls to victory. The team finished the meet with 159 points, followed by Billings Central’s 132 points.

Whitefish was “darn happy to finish third” with 89 points, head coach Pat McLaughlin said.

Whitefish struggled to field a full team all season, and a member of its divisional champion Policy Debate team was sidelined for the state tournament. Joe Mazur and new teammate Matt Danczyk, who was part of the fourth-place Policy Debate team at divisionals, took first place at state.

Whitefish was buoyed by another state champion. Tyler Schiff is the Class A state champ in Memorized Public Address.

He “has been after this since his freshman year, and now he did it,” McLaughlin said.

Columbia Falls was led by Jon Riffey’s two state titles in Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking. It’s the first time competitors at the Class A level have been allowed to enter in two events, which makes Riffey the first double champion in school history.

Stephanie Christensen and Keri Potter also brought home state titles. Christensen won in Original Oratory and Potter in Expository Speaking.

The win was Michael Christensen’s ninth state title in 11 years. He has coached for 21 years in Columbia Falls.

This year’s “was probably the hardest-fought state championship” of the last five his team has won, he said.

Local results from the Class A state tournament are:

n Policy Debate — 1. Joe Mazur and Matt Danczyk, Whitefish; 7. Marissa Getts and Ariel Ramstad, Columbia Falls; 8. Derek Janni and Carl Kohnstamm, Whitefish

n Expository Speaking — 1. Keri Potter, Columbia Falls; 2. Jennifer Jurva, Columbia Falls; 4. Tyler Schiff, Whitefish

n Memorized Public Address — 1. Tyler Schiff, Whitefish; 2. Melissa Carr, Columbia Falls; 3. Stephanie Christensen, Columbia Falls; 8. Haley Hill, Whitefish

n Humorous Oral Interpretation — 3. Laura Burgess, Columbia Falls; 4. Patrick Meehan, Whitefish; 5. Hannah Brinton, Columbia Falls; 6. Candance Ward-Shears, Columbia Falls

n Serious Oral Interpretation — 3. Candance Ward-Sheard, Columbia Falls; 4. Ashley Carlson, Columbia Falls; 7. Keri Potter, Columbia Falls

n Original Oratory — 1. Stephanie Christensen, Columbia Falls; 3. Laura Burgess, Columbia Falls; 5. Julie Peterman, Whitefish; 7. Shiloh Knudsen, Columbia Falls; 8. Christa Konopatke, Whitefish

n Impromptu Speaking — 1. Jon Riffey,  Columbia Falls; 3. Jesse Flickinger, Columbia Falls; 5. Emily Blumhardt, Whitefish

n Extemporaneous Speaking — 1. Jon Riffey, Columbia Falls; 2. Jesse Flickinger, Columbia Falls; 3. Natalie Law, Columbia Falls; 4. Haley Hill, Whitefish; 5. John Joern, Whitefish