The Columbia Falls speech and debate team placed first in Class A, B, C tournament in Kalispell on Nov. 22-23. Speech events had 55 to 80 competitors, and debate events had 20 to 29.

“Even with this tough field, the debaters placed strong in both events, coming off the loss in Corvallis,” coach Tara Norick said.

Leading the Wildcat debaters, Mary Gross placed first in varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, and Colin Norick and Annabel Conger placed first in novice policy debate. In speech, Lexi Corbett placed second in original oratory.

“There is a tough competitive field in Class A this season, with Hamilton, Corvallis, Whitefish and Stevensville all having strong speech and debate teams with competitors across all events,” Norick said. “Every week in every event, it’s a new competition driving all of us to work harder to achieve the top spots. The fact that teams from Class AA, A, and B all compete together ultimately makes all the competitors on the west side of the state stronger.”

After the Thanksgiving break, the Columbia Falls team will head to Libby, which will be the last tournament for the junior varsity team this season.

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate

1st Mary Gross

5th Maddie Mantell

8th Allison Foust

Novice Lincoln-Douglas debate

8th Mikel Knutsen

Varsity policy debate

11th Mara Barnes and Monique Schoech

Novice policy debate

1st Annable Conger and Colin Norick

5th Hailey Lemburg and Tya Bonawitz

10th Estevon Torres and Danny Morgan

12th Mark Shamp and Tim Ingham

Original oratory

2nd Lexi Corbett

14th Kendra Skelton

16th Casey Shea

Memorized public address

11th Breanna Friar

13th Bailey Duke

Impromptu speaking

9th Cody Phillips

11th Colter Norick

14th Casey Shea

Expository speaking

9th Baylee Brinton

11th Yeo Chung

16th Samantha Gilk

Serious oral interpretation

6th Bailey Duke

Extemporaneous speaking

14th Colter Norick