By Tim Leeds
HELENA Murray Warhank of Rudyard, a freshman at Carroll College, is a member of the college's nationally ranked speech and debate team, the Talking Saints.
The team was ranked fourth in the nation in parliamentary debate in the mid-year standings released in January.
"The high ranking was a very pleasant surprise," a press release quoted coach Brent Northup as saying. "We have the youngest team in Carroll history with only one senior and five juniors. The other 13 are mostly freshmen. This was supposed to be a quiet year dedicated to building the future. But we're not complaining."
Warhank was a member of one of three Carroll teams in the top four spots for parliamentary debate at an international tournament in Saskatchewan. The freshman and his partner, Heather Ready of Laurel, took third at that tournament.
Warhank also took first in junior impromptu speaking and second in junior persuasive speaking at the Great Salt Lake Tournament in Salt Lake City Jan. 12-15. The team took second in overall sweepstakes at that tournament.
The national rankings are based on the four best tournaments a team has had at the time of ranking. Carroll had won either the open or junior divisions of parliamentary debate at all five tournaments attended.
The schedule
included another international tournament, held in Scotland.
"The trip to Scotland was an eye-opener," Northup said. "There were 350 teams from 40 countries. International
rules permit law students and graduate students to enter, so we found ourselves competing against well-trained lawyers from Dublin, Ireland, London and Sydney, Australia. We finished somewhere near 100th place, which doesn't sound very impressive unless you've seen the teams. We
were both humbled and pleased."
The season also included a trip for one team to San Diego to compete in the Pt. Loma University Round Robin,
which invites only the 12 top-ranked schools in the country. This is the fourth consecutive year the Talking Saints have been invited.
