Havre debaters just miss qualifying for nationals

Havre High School's speech team competed in the last online Montana tournament Friday and Saturday, with members of the team missing qualifying for June's online national qualifier by a hair.

At the Eastern Montana National Speech and Debate Association District tournament, 227 of the best competitors in this half of Montana, from 24 schools in all classifications, Class C through Class AA, competed for a slot at the national tournament.

"I am proud of how the Havre debaters proved themselves at national qualifiers," head coach Tim Leeds said. "I was hoping to qualify for nationals, but, in many ways, this is the toughest meet of the year with the best from all classes of schools competing to qualify. They really proved themselves getting as far as they did, and they were right in the mix up to the end."

"Qualifying competitors for nationals would have been a nice finish, but our debaters had a very strong close to a strong season with their finishes," Leeds added.

Senior LillieAnn Mecklenburg, a four-year Blue Pony debater, ended up in eighth place out of the 28 students competing in Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

The debates ran as a double-elimination tournament, with one judge in each of the first two rounds and a panel of three judges in the subsequent rounds.

Mecklenburg defeated a debater from Shepherd in the first round, then lost to a competitor from Billings West in the second.

She rebounded to win against a Gallatin High School debater in a split decision third round, and won on straight ballots, 3-0, against a Wolf Point debater fourth round.

Meckenburg lost the fifth round to a debater from AA debate powerhouse Bozeman - all of the LD national qualifying students, including the debater Mecklenburg lost to fifth round, are from that school -  in a 3-0 decision in which the judges commented on how close the round was.

"This is an outstanding debate, and both debaters are very worthy of a bid to nationals. Nice work," one of the judges, a former AA debate coach, gave in his reason for decision. "The round is very close, and I spend some time going back and forth when evaluating the presenting arguments."

If she had won that round, Mecklenburg would have made it to the next round, guaranteed at least a second-alternate position and with a chance to qualify for nationals.

And the team of juniors Dartanion Kaftan, a third-year Havre debater, and Riley Klein, competing for the Blue Pony team his first year, missed out in their normal event, but just missed qualifying in a secondary event.

A legislative-style debate, Congress, is offered at nationals with competition at the district tournament held on Saturday, and Kaftan and Klein moved to that event when they were eliminated in their primary event, public forum debate, after the third round Friday.

Kaftan and Klein lost a first-round public forum debate to a team from Bozeman, with the judge complementing their style and ability in the loss, including dealing with a technical issue with a computer and rejoining the debate with a smart phone.

They had drawn a bye for the second round, but then lost to another team from Bozeman in a 3-0 decision and ended with a 1-2 record.

Both of the Bozeman teams Kaftan and Klein lost to qualified for nationals at the tournament.

Kaftan and Klein then switched to Congress, where the students simulate being legislators, following parliamentary procedure and debating and voting on bills.

The two earned good marks from their speeches and motions in the three-hour first round of Senate competition, and qualified to advance to the finals and continued to debate and vote on bills in that three-hour round.

Klein also was voted in by his fellow competitors as presiding officer for the second half of finals, chairing the session.

Both competitors continued to receive good marks on their work, and Klein ended up as second alternate and Kaftan ended ranked sixth, one place out from third alternate.

Sophomore Paige Bertelsen, a second-year Havre debater competing in Lincoln-Douglas debate, also just missed moving onto the Saturday rounds in her event.

Bertelsen lost to a Billings West debater first round, with the judge complimenting both debaters in their performance, but rebounded to defeat a debater from Wolf Point in the second round.

Bertelsen lost to a debate from Sidney third round and ended 1-2,

She also switched over to Congress Saturday, competing as one of the 30 debaters split into two 15-member chambers in the House in that event.

Bertelsen received some good comments for her performance in the first three-hour session, but did not make the cut to the 14 House members competing in finals.