The Whitefish speech and debate team placed second at the Kalispell kick-off tournament last weekend.

Whitefish came in second behind Loyola for Class A, B and C schools.

Two Bulldogs led the team. Abbie Belcher with a first place in extemporaneous speaking and Zache Ade with first in memorized public address.

Coach Sara Mueller said in addition to the two who placed in first, Whitefish had 11 semifinalists in speech and seven finalists.

“It is always exciting to compete in Kalispell against a variety of competitors not always on our regular schedule,” she said. “However, the best part of competing in a large tournament like theirs is knowing that competitive speech and debate holds such high regard in schools across this valley. I give credit to many of the coaches still active who’ve made that possible.”

Mueller said even after a successful tournament the team is still talking about ways to improve.

“As a coach, this is exactly what you want to hear,” she said.

The Bulldogs head to Ronan Saturday.

Individual results:

Extemporaneous: 1. Abbie Belcher

Impromptu: 4. Abbie Belcher

Memorized public address: 1. Zach Ade

Original oratory: 5. Hunter Cripe, 6. Sam Benkelman

Lincoln-Douglas debate: 3. Dakota Henson

Varsity Policy debate: 2. Zach Kasselder and Ian Caltabiano