Havre debater takes fourth at online tournament

Press release

Havre High School speech and debate again saw success at an online tournament, the third of the year and hosted last weekend by Havre.

Varsity fourth-year Lincoln-Douglas debater LillieAnn Mecklenburg, who went undefeated in preliminary rounds and lost in a split decision in finals to take second at the Dec. 11-12 Laurel tournament, again went undefeated in preliminary rounds.

Mecklenburg swept debaters from East Helena, Park High School, Corvallis High School and Billings Central in the four preliminary rounds before losing on a split decision to a Laurel High School debater in semifinals. Mecklenburg took fourth overall.

“Lillie has been on fire the last two tournaments, and it is heartbreaking that her tournaments are ending in split-decision losses two weeks in a row,” head coach Tim Leeds said. “She has been working hard all season, all four years on the team, really, and I am sure she will continue to win the rest of this year.

“All of our team members are doing well,” Leeds added. “Switching to online tournaments has made it tough, and they are up against the full slate of Class A competitors every tournament.”

Sophomore Paige Bertelsen, a second-year Havre competitor, also did well in Lincoln-Douglas debate Friday and Saturday, beating debaters from Billings Central and Frenchtown before losing to another Frencthown debater and to a debater from Fergus High School in Lewistown.

And seniors Xavier Ulano, a fourth-year Havre debater, and Sean Borrero, who is debating for his second year for Havre, also almost made it all the way.

Ulano and Borrero lost close matches to debaters from Frenchtown and East Helena before coming back to win their last two matches, both against Columbia Falls debaters, but also did not break into semis and just missed making the top eight.

Leeds said the online format is having some hiccups every week, but the tournaments in general are working very well.

“I really have to hand it to the coaches on the online tournament committee and our weekly tournament manager as well as coaches who are really working hard each meet to get this online format to work,” he said.

Havre now has a couple of weeks off over the holidays before returning to competition at the one-day Custer County online invitational Jan. 9.