Havre speech and debate excels in Glasgow

Press release

Havre High School's speech and debate team again fielded a small group of competitors over the weekend, but the team of four did well enough in competition that the Ponies still almost won the team trophy.

Havre just missed beating Class A rival Sidney by four points, taking second at the Scotties Speech and Drama tournament.

"This was really close, and our kids did well," head coach Tim Leeds said. "We lost some competitors to illness and conflicting appointments and still almost won the trophy.

"We have several competitors who couldn't start practicing till the end of last month, and I am looking forward to their contributions once they have practiced enough to actually start competing," Leeds added. 

Leading the way for the Ponies was sophomore Paige Anderson, who received perfect marks in preliminary rounds for the second straight tournament, and ended up in first place in impromptu speaking.

Havre's Lincoln-Douglas debate also did well facing competitors from the eastern part of the state.

Sophomore Lyvia Little, competing in her second year for Havre and at her second tournament in Lincoln-Douglas, went undefeated in preliminary rounds, including a tough third-round debate against a debater from Roundup.

Little and the Roundup debater, who went 2-1 with high speaker points in the preliminaries and was ranked second at that point, went on to a rematch in the finals round. Little lost the round in a very close match and ended up in second place.

Junior Trinity Olsen, also a second-year competitor for Havre and also at her second tournament in Lincoln-Douglas, won her first two rounds but lost a close match in the third round. Olsen ended up in fifth place, just missing breaking into finals to face her teammate in a debate for first and second place.

Senior Carinna Kline, a third-year Havre High competitor who switched to a new event, informative speaking, late last year, also excelled in the largest event at the Glasgow tournament, with 17 competitors.

Kline scored highly in the preliminary rounds and broke into finals, and ended up taking fifth for Havre.

Havre heads to Bozeman for a two-day tournament this weekend.

"I am looking forward to the competition this weekend," Leeds said. "Bozeman is always a great tournament and always is one of the biggest in the state each year, usually with plenty of AA, A an BC competition. This will be great experience for the Pony speakers."