Havre High School speech and debate kicks off season

Special to the Havre Daily News

The Havre High School speech and debate team opened the season with some success at its home tournament, but couldn’t quite edge out the Belgrade High School Panthers in the team competition.

Havre took second in the tournament Saturday with 52 points, while Belgrade won the team sweepstakes competition with 85. Fergus County High School took third with 23 points.

The tournament saw 14 schools including Havre, with the Blue Ponies Northern Class A rival Browning also competing, and both Great Falls High School and C.M. Russell High School along with most of north-central Montana’s Class B and Class C speech, drama and debate teams also attending.

Jacob Bachmeier and Ethan Smith led the charge for the Ponies, with Smith taking first in humorous oral interpretation of literature and Bachmeier winning the Lincoln-Douglas debate champion medal.

Head coach Tim Leeds said he was pleased with how all of the Havre competitors did at the tournament.

“Our veteran varsity competitors all excelled at the home tournament, and everyone had good comments and good results,” Leeds said. “It’s kind of tough kicking off the season with only three weeks practice, and all the Havre kids did well.”

Smith competed in one of the bigger events Saturday, beating out 12 other students in his first-place finish.

Emily Simonson and Mina Everingham also scored points for Havre in serious interpretation, taking second and seventh, respectively.

In Lincoln-Douglas, which had 11 competitors, Bachmeier went undefeated, winning rounds against two debaters from Great Falls High and one from CMR in the preliminary rounds, then winning the last round 2-1 against a Belgrade competitor.

Freshman Caroline Tuss also competed for Havre in her first tournament in Lincoln-Douglas.

Randi Ruhkamp took second place in humorous oral interpretation of literature, while Chris Steinmetz took second in memorized public address and Jesse Riske took fourth in that event.

Patrick Leeds placed fourth in impromptu speaking and Esther Stocker took sixth in original oratory.

Coach Leeds said he wanted to thank everyone who helped at the tournament, including the judges and the Havre Public Schools administrators and staff members who helped with using the building, preparing for the tournament — and also judging.

The team has a week off before its next competition at Cut Bank High School.