CJI speech team wins second-place trophy at divisionals

By Rhonda Petersen

CJI speech coach

The Chester-Joplin-Inverness speech team traveled to Shelby Saturday to compete at the Northern BC divisional meet. 

In all 18 schools competed in speech, drama and debate events to determine who would qualify to compete at the State BC Speech, Drama and Debate meet in Bigfork. The top six finishers in each event advanced to the state tournament. Nine class B schools and nine Class C schools attended the divisional meet.

The Class B schools were Bigfork, Choteau, Conrad, Cut Bank, Great Falls Central, Harlem, Lincoln County from Eureka, Malta and Shelby. 

The Class C schools included Box Elder, CJI, Chinook, Power-Dutton-Brady, Fort Benton, Hays-Lodge pole, North Star, North Toole County in Sunburst and Simms.

The CJI Hawks qualifed all five of its team members for the state tournament. CJI brought home two divisional champions, senior Kyran Neer was in original oratory and junior Emma Wickum dominated the competition in extemporaneous speaking. Wickum, a three-year participant in speech, earned perfect scores in the final round.

Shivell Norick, a four-year speech participant, earned second place in memorized public address. Samantha May, another four-year speech participant, finished third in spontaneous oral interpretation. Cain Cole, a three-year speech participant, qualified for this year’s state tournament in dramatic oral interpretation by finishing in fifth place.

As a team, the CJI Hawks scored a collective 47 points. The Fort Benton Longhorns scored eight more points, 55, than the Hawks. The North Star Knights claimed the third-place trophy in Class C Speech with 23 points.

In Class B speech, Great Falls Central High School dominated, accumulating 149 points on their way to a first place finish. Bigfork finished second with 73 points and Choteau claimed third with 25 points.

In a tightly contested drama field, Simms claimed first place in Class C by one point by accumulating 37 points. Chinook finished second with 36 points and Hays-Lodge Pole earned third place with 34 points. 

In a competitive Class B drama field, Choteau finished first with 44 points. The host Shelby Coyotes won second place with 41 points and Lincoln County ended up third in Class B drama with 37 points.

Teams from across the state will now travel to Bigfork to compete in one of the biggest speech, drama and debate tournaments of the year Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.