The Havre High speech and debate team will be in Billings this weekend to vie in the state Class A tourney.
From TIM LEEDS
The Havre High School speech and debate team captured the Class A Central Division title Saturday in Browning. The Blue Ponies corralled the title with everyone on the team scoring points. Three Ponies Lucas Minnick, Jade Lowder and Christina Hoppe earned individual championships, and 17 Ponies qualified to compete at the state tournament this week in Billings. Havre’s 92 points were good enough for first, while Belgrade came in second with 90. Butte Central Catholic High School took third with 71 points. Havre Lincoln-Douglas debaters Lucas Minnick and Dan Marino both broke into finals to face each other for the championship in their event. Minnick entered the title match with a 3-0 record and Marino came in with a 2-1 record. Minnick took all three ballots in the round to win the divisional championship, and Marino took second. Jade Lowder was the divisional champion in expository speaking for Havre, followed by teammate Alina Calianu, who garnered fourth in that event. Christina Hoppe was Havre’s divisional champion in original oratory, followed by Rhett Lowder in fourth place. Tyler Lamb placed second in impromptu speaking for Havre, followed by teammates Jesse Lee and Katrina Hinckley, in third and seventh place, respectively. Kristin Roll took second in extemporaneous speaking, with Rachel Zerger taking fourth in the event. In team debate, Havre’s Emily Koffler and Megan Wagner took fourth, with Havre teams Amber Odegard and Dylan Long and Heidi Albrecht and Travis Carrier taking sixth and seventh, respectively. Richard Leeds took seventh in humorous oral interpretation of literature. The tournament was the qualifier for the Class A state tournament in Billings this weekend, with students who placed in the top six in their events going to state. This year, the seventhplace finishers in team debate and impromptu in the Central Division also qualified for state Havre captured those slots at the meet in Browning.
