They may be young, but they still made a mark. The Columbia Falls speech and debate team opened their season by taking first place in team sweepstakes at the Corvallis meet Oct. 29.

The team had three first place finishers - Blake Ladenburg in memorized public address, Baylee Brinton in expository and Meredith Stolte in oratory. Stolte is a freshman. All told, 17 students made it into the final rounds.

"They are a great group of young people," coach Tara Norick said. "I'm looking forward to a challenging but enjoyable season."

Norick said the team has just eight upperclassmen - five seniors and three juniors. A whopping 30 sophomores and freshmen also competed.

"We have a balanced team," Norick said. "I couldn't do it without the assistant coaches. They are fantastic. We have a difficult schedule ahead of us, with four AA tournaments before the Christmas break. We will need to continue to work hard and improve to be successful."

Norick is assisted by coaches Kim Gange and Leslie DiMaio. Gange coaches oratory, impromptu and memorized public address. DiMaio coaches humorous oral interpretation, serious oral interpretation and expository speech.

The team competes next in Kalispell on Nov. 5.

Individual Results

Policy Debate - 2nd , Mary Gross and Allison Foust; 8th, Bailey Duke and Colter Norick

Lincoln-Douglas Debate; 3rd, Kaitlyn Barnes

Extemporaneous - 2nd, Natalie Law; 7th, Chance Morine; 8th, Shelby Greene

Impromptu - 2nd, Chance Morine; 4th, Blake Ladenburg

Oratory - 1st, Meredith Stolte; 4th, Natalie Law; 8th, Ada Brooks

Memorized Public Address - 1st, Blake Ladenburg; 5th, Olivia Ramstad; 7th, Cheyanne Flickinger

Expository - 1st, Baylee Brinton; 6th, Alex Damon; 8th, Yeo Chung

Humorous Oral Interpretation - 4th, Caylub Moon; 5th, Mason Gedlaman

Serious Oral Interpretation - 7th, Lexi Brunz