Flathead, Glacier and Columbia Falls speech and debate students advance to nationals following the West District Qualifying Tournament Friday and Saturday.

Glacier High School had 11 national qualifiers and won the overall sweepstakes trophy with 45 points. Qualifiers include — Mac Adkins in Original Oratory; Bella AuClaire in Original Oratory; Mac Adkins and Alden Lamson in Duo Interpretation; Isaac Lorenc and Davis Rennie in Duo Interpretation; Mason Fauth and Alexandra Houseworth in Policy Debate; Kait Giffin in Lincoln-Douglas Debate; Lane McKoy in Informative Speaking; Alexa Wilton in Program Oral Interpretation.

While the purpose of this tournament is to have individual qualifiers, winning the overall sweepstakes was a nice way to cap off the season said Glacier head coach Greg Adkins.

“This is a great team, and I couldn’t be more excited about winning the overall sweepstakes,” he said, later adding, “It wasn’t our focus, but I think it really shows the depth and balance of this team.”

Flathead High School, which hosted the tournament, had 12 national qualifiers and placed third overall with 31 points. Among specific events, Flathead won the speech sweepstakes and Congress sweepstakes trophies.

Flathead qualifiers are — Jasmine Anderson in Humorous Interpretation; James Francis in Humorous Interpretation; Mason Hermann in Informative Speaking; Emily Hove in Congressional Debate — House; Kadence Johnson in Dramatic Interpretation; Annelise Mason in Congressional Debate — Senate; Scout McMahon in International Extemporaneous Speaking; Ada Milner in Program Oral Interpretation; Rachel Ottman, U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking; Maayana Sattler in International Extemporaneous Speaking and Rylin Wilde in International Extemporaneous Speaking and U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking.

Columbia Falls, which placed fifth with 20 points overall, had three national qualifiers — Emma Stephens and Eddie Chisholm in Policy Debate and Griffin Conger in Dramatic Interpretation.

“It felt good to finish strong this weekend. We have an incredible group of seniors this year, and it was a wonderful way to end the season. This will be the largest group of competitors Flathead has ever traveled to a national competition,” said Flathead head coach Shannon O’Donnell.

Whitefish High School also competed.

Now fundraising begins for the individual qualifiers to attend nationals in Louisville, Kentucky The national competition, which is organized by the National Speech and Debate Association, will be held June 12-20.

Following are local individual results with qualifiers and alternates noted. Typically, the top two finishers qualify for nationals. The exception is when a student qualifies for more than one event and has to select one to compete in at nationals and vacate the other.

If any national qualifiers cannot attend the summer tournament, alternates may have the opportunity to compete.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 406-758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.