Havre speech team wins third trophy

The Havre High School speech and debate competitors did not win any individual first-place awards — although some came very close — but still dominated the Class A competition in Choteau Saturday to win their third first-place trophy this season.

All 11 Blue Pony speakers added points to Havre’s finish, with a 58-point final team score.

Butte Central Catholic High School, which came to the Choteau High School invitational representing the Class A Southwest Division, took second with 38 points. Havre’s Central A Division rival Browning High School took third with seven points.

“I am very happy with how our team is working out in a building season,” head coach Tim Leeds said. “We only brought back three varsity speakers, but we have added some talent from the freshman through the senior class, and they all are continuing to improve.

“Some first-place finishes would have been nice,” Leeds added, “but this was a big tournament with some tough competition, and all our speakers did an excellent job.”

Along with Butte Central, Browning and most of the local Class BC Northern Division teams, Manhattan and Three Forks also brought speakers to Choteau Saturday.

In serious oral interpretation of literature, two first-year speakers, both competing at their second tournament, broke into the final round and scored points for Havre.

Freshman Ethan Smith did well in preliminary rounds as well as finals, and ended up in second place at Choteau. He was followed by fellow Blue Pony speaker Emily Simonson, a sophomore, who ended up in eighth place out of the 19 competitors in that event.

In team policy debate, seniors Rian Shanklin and Tyler Zuidema went undefeated in preliminary rounds. The team, competing in their third tournament together, beat two teams from Great Falls Central Catholic High School and a Three Forks team before losing in the final round in a rematch with the Great Falls team they beat in the first round. Shanklin and Zuidema ended up in second place at Choteau.

Sophomores Patrick Leeds and Trenton Parrotte, competing at their third tournament together, went 2-1 in preliminary rounds, defeating two teams from Three Forks and losing to the Great Falls team that ended in first-place. Leeds and Parrotte finished in third.

In Lincoln-Douglas debate, freshman Trinity Gobin, competing at her fourth tournament, went 2-1 and ended in eighth out of 14 competitors. Gobin lost rounds to debaters from Three Forks and Simms, but came back third round to beat a Simms competitor and take eighth with high speaker points.

Varsity Lincoln-Douglas debater Jacob Bachmeier, a sophomore, lost close rounds to Butte Central and Cut Bank debaters but beat a competitor from Shelby and ended up in ninth place.

Lincoln-Douglas debater Randi Ruhkamp, a freshman, also added to Havre’s points with a win over the Simms debater but lost rounds to Cut Bank and Butte Central competitors.

In impromptu speaking, judges gave varsity impromptu speaker Carlee Klimas, a senior, high marks in both preliminary rounds and the final, putting her in second place at Choteau.

Sophomore Josiah Stocker, competing in impromptu at his first tournament after switching from Lincoln-Douglas debate, also broke into finals and ended in seventh in that event.

The Havre speakers now get the Thanksgiving holiday off as they prepare to host the Havre invitational tournament, Saturday, Dec. 7.