Havre speech sends 12 to state tournament

Press release

Havre speech and debate saw great success in the Class A eastern divisional tournament in Hardin, qualifying 12 of its 14 competitors for state competition with the final two barely missing the cut and listed as alternate competitors.

"This was a great weekend for Blue Pony speech and debate," head coach Tim Leeds said. "I hoped to bring home some divisional champions and to send all of our students to state, and we barely missed both of those goals."

In the team competition, Havre also had a strong showing, taking fourth out of 10 teams with 76 team points.

Perennial powerhouses Laurel High School, Belgrade High School and Billings Central High School fought it out for the top three places, with Laurel taking first with 145 points, Belgrade in second with 141 and Billings taking third with 114.

The new qualifying system, first used this year, splits the state into east and west divisions, with the schools competing in the former central and east divisions bringing their teams to an eastern tournament  to qualify for state. The former northwest and southwest divisions did the same in their "super-divisional."

The top 12 in each event qualified for state this coming weekend in Belgrade.

Debate used a seeded power-match system to rank its competitors. In the speech and drama events, preliminary rounds and semifinals were held to rank the top 12 competitors with the top speakers going into a finals round to rank first through sixth place.

Havre's debate squad led the way for the Ponies, with senior Jacob Bachmeier in Lincoln-Douglas debate and senior Trenton Parrotte and junior Trenton Smith in team policy debate going undefeated in preliminary head-to-head rounds before losing close finals rounds to top-ranked Laurel debaters.

Bachmeier and the team of Parrotte and Smith each took second in their events.

Sara Kutz-Yeager also earned points for Havre and qualified for state, taking a third-place finish in humorous oral interpretation of literature. Sophomore Rory Everingham and senior Patrick Leeds just missed the chance to go to state, ending up as alternates. Everingham lost a tie-breaking procedure that would have put her in the semifinals in humorous interp and ended up in 13th. Leeds was just behind her in the event, finishing in 14th.

Junior Ethan Smith also brought home a third-place finish, competing along with Blue Pony Lela Phillips, a sophomore, in finals for dramatic oral interpretation of literature. Phillips ended up in sixth in the event. Senior Emily Simonson qualified for state in dramatic interp by making it to the semifinals round but just missed the cut to compete for the top six. Simonson lost a tie-breaking procedure that could have put her in finals and ended in seventh place.

Kristen Belcourt, a junior, made it to finals in expository speaking for Havre and ended with a sixth-place finish.

Havre Junior Randi Ruhkamp also lost a tie-breaker to go to finals, ending with a seventh-place finish in original oratory.

Also qualifying for state competition representing the Blue Ponies were senior Chris Steinmetz and junior Jesse Riska, who took eighth and ninth, respectively, in memorized public address, and sophomore Johhny Valadez with a 10th-place finish in impromptu speaking.

"This was a really impressive showing," coach Leeds said. "Even so, I am hoping we can ramp it up and do even better this weekend in Belgrade. These kids have a lot of talent and have been working hard all year, and it is paying off."