Havre High comes up third in state A speech and debate

Havre High School improved over its fourth-place finish last year at the state Class ABC speech, debate and drama tournament, taking third place in the Class A competition at the tournament hosted in Havre Friday and Saturday.

Havre had the second-highest number of students entered in the tournament, which had 73 schools registered. Havre competed against 23 Class A schools to take the third-place trophy.

Columbia Falls High School won Class A and Whitefish High School took second.

Havre had 15 competitors who won points in the sweepstakes race. Matt Welch and Peter Spangelo placed fourth in team debate, Andrew Edwards took fifth in extemporaneous speaking, and Michele Holden placed sixth in serious oral interpretation of literature.

Contestants who didn't place but earned points for the Havre third-place finish were semifinalists Cherish Fehr in original oratory, Gina Williams in serious oral interpretation of literature, Joel Benson in humorous oral interpretation of literature and Amy Allison in memorized public address.

Debaters who earned team points by winning rounds but didn't place were team debaters Mike Inabnit and Lucas Hamilton, and Matt Wagner and Andrew Dugdale, and Lincoln-Douglas debaters Angela Adams, Sarah Benson and Dean Koffler.

Big Sandy also did well at the state tournament, taking third in Class C drama and tying with Gardiner High School for second in speech. Big Sandy's Emily Bley took fourth in serious solo at the tournament, and Matt Bitz took first in impromptu speaking.

All of the results of the state Class ABC state speech, debate and drama tournament are available on the Havre Public Schools Web site.

On the Net: State speech results: http://www.hhs.havre.k12.mt.us/statespeech.htm