Havre speech wins at Simms

Press release

Despite again having a team slimmed down due to conflicting events, the Havre High School speech and debate team saw success this weekend at the Simms/Power-Dutton-Brady invitational tournament, with all five competitors placing and scoring points in the Blue Pony’s Class A team victory.

Leading the way for the Ponies were veteran competitors Jacob Bachmeier, who earned first place in Lincoln-Douglas debate, Ethan Smith, who won a first-place finish in dramatic oral interpretation, and Trenton Smith, who won the competition in extemporaneous speaking.

Jesse Riska earned a second-place finish in memorized public address, and Johnny Valadez took fifth in impromptu speaking.

“The team is really shaping up nicely,” head coach Tim Leeds said. “Our veterans continued to do well and and our newer competitors are getting better every meet. I am hoping that we soon can field our full team and see what we really can do.”

Leeds said Havre expects to take a small team to Conrad next weekend — though he said he expects to again do well in the competition — but that he hopes to increase the numbers significantly for the Browning invitational Nov. 21.