Havre speech wins in Chester

Press release

Havre speakers faced stiff competition from both sides of the Continental Divide at the CJI/North Star invitational speech, debate and drama tournament Saturday in Chester, with the Blue Ponies pulling enough points to win a first-place victory in the Class A competition.

Havre took first with 81 points with Fergus County High School from Lewistown taking second with 77 points and Browning High School taking third with three points.

“It was close, but our students pulled through and scored us enough points for win,” head coach Tim Leeds said. “The team is shaping up nicely and we are looking good headed towards divisionals next month.”

Public forum debate team Tony Antley and Sidney Scheresky-O’Neil led the way for Havre with a first-place finish. Havre public forum team Eric Harrison and Xavier Ulano took third and Joram Randolph and Noah Teasley took fourth.

Lincoln-Douglas debater Johnny Valadez broke into the finals round with a 2-1 record, but lost to a Bigfork debater and ended up in second. LD debaters LillieAnn Mecklenburg and Kaleb Gardner just missed placing for Havre, taking ninth and tenth, respectively, but scored points for the Ponies with one win each in the preliminary rounds.

Jaryn Beckman and Hailey Azure, competing at their first tournament, went undefeated in the preliminary rounds in team policy debate. They had a rematch against a Bigfork team they defeated in the second round, losing on a split decision to finish in second place.

Alex Barkus made it into finals in informative speaking and placed fifth in her event, while Niko Fialkosky took fifth in extemporaneous speaking.

Barrett Kilgore and Mallory Schaub competed for Havre in dramatic oral interpretation of literature, with Kilgore, competing at his second tournament, making it into finals and finishing in eighth place. Schaub did not make the cut into the finals round.

Jordyn Jarman lost a tie-breaking procedure that would have put her into the finals round and ended up in ninth place.

The team now takes the Christmas holiday break before heading to Columbia Falls and then Laurel before going to the eastern divisional Jan. 20.

The students who qualify at divisionals will compete at the Class A state tournament Jan. 26-27 in Corvallis.