Havre speech takes first at Conrad, next to C/J-I North Star

Special to the Daily News

The Havre High School speech and debate team, fielding fewer competitors due to conflicting events and illness, still saw success at the Conrad Invitational tournament Saturday.

The 12 Blue Pony speakers scored enough points against competitors from 18 schools to earn a first-place team finish with 46 points. Class A Northern Division rival Browning High School took second with 18 points.

“We hoped to take all 20 of the speakers on the team to Conrad, but the dozen who were able to compete still pulled off a first place for us,” head coach Tim Leeds said. “Our kids are improving every week and doing well even as the competition is getting tougher.”

Leading the way for the Pony team was Alex McDermott, who took second in original oratory. Teammate Esther Stocker lost a tie-breaker for third to place fourth in oratory, and Desiree Bachmeier earned points for Havre with a fifth in the event.

Caitlyn Acuff, competing at her first tournament for Havre, lost her first round to a varsity Cut Bank Lincoln-Douglas debater, then beat debaters from Shelby in the second and third rounds to take third in the event.

Emily Simonson scored points for Havre with a third-place finish in serious oral interpretation of literature, closely followed by Ethan Smith, who scored points with a fourth-place finish in the event.

Chris Steinmetz took fourth for Havre in memorized public address, with Jesse Riska right behind in fifth place in MPA.

Caroline Tuss took fifth in spontaneous oral interpretation of literature, with Mina Everingham taking a seventh-place finish in spontaneous and Randi Ruhkamp taking fifth in humorous oral interpration of literature.

The Blue Pony team next travels to Chester Saturday for the C/J-I North Star schools invitational tournament, then has back-to-back two-day tournaments following the Thanksgiving break.

The Havre team will compete in Corvallis Friday and Saturday Dec. 5-6 at its Class A invitational and at the Class AA invitational in Great Falls Friday and Saturday Dec. 12-13.