Though they were down in numbers due to activity conflicts, the Columbia Falls High School Speech and Debate team still came away with another win on Saturday at the Western Regional AA Speech and Debate Tournament.

A significant portion of the team was unable to attend the tournament, having been involved in the Jazz Cafe hosted at the Cedar Creek Lodge on Friday night. Most of the team’s seniors and several other strong speakers were not able to attend.

Despite operating with a reduced team and the challenge of competing head-to-head with Class AA schools, the Wildcats came through with 69 tournament points to take first in the Class A sweeps competition. Corvallis took second with 51.5 points.

“I was thrilled with the ability of our reduced squad to deliver a win in these tough conditions. These kids are dedicated and focused. They took on heavy competition and proved that we can perform well,” said head coach Tara Norick.

Debate had a strong showing with senior policy debaters Annabel Conger and Colin Norick taking an undefeated streak through five preliminary rounds and three finals match ups to secure a first place win in that event.

In speech, Columbia Falls put competitors into five finals rounds.

Individual results:

Policy Debate:

1st Annabel Conger and Colin Norick

LD Debate:

8th Mikel Knutson

Impromptu:

6th Danny Morgan

7th Alex Garate

Extemporaneous:

5th Danny Morgan

Memorized Public Address

7th Emma Erickson

Informative

3rd Jacob Hohman

Sweeps

1st Columbia Falls 69

2nd Corvallis 51.5

3rd Loyola 34

4th Whitefish 30.5