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News you can use
The Havre High School policy debate team of Trenton Smith, left, and Trenton Parrotte wait for their next round Friday. Smith and Parrotte took second at the state tournament.
Havre High School Lincoln-Douglas debater Jacob Bachmeier prepares for his next round Friday at the State Class A Speech, Debate and Drama tournament in Belgrade. Bachmeier took fourth at state for Havre. Randi Ruhkamp and Ethan Smith visit with other competitors Friday between rounds. Ruhkamp and Smith each took a sixth-place finish at state, in original oratory and dramatic interpretation of literature, respectively.
Press release
Havre High School's state speech and debate team saw success at the Class A State Speech, Debate and Drama tournament in Belgrade over the weekend, with Blue Ponies going up on stage to bring home four sets of state medals.
"This was a great finish to a great season for Havre," head coach Tim Leeds said. "These kids have worked hard all year, and and I was happy to see them rewarded at the state tournament."
The debate squad led the way for Havre with one second- and one fourth-place finish at Belgrade High School, and two of Havre's speech competitors also went up on stage, to take home sixth-place medals after competing against the top that Class A forensics has to offer.
The policy debate team of Trenton Parrotte, a senior, and Trenton Smith, a junior went 3-2 in the preliminary rounds to qualify for sudden-death competition in the outrounds. Parrotte and Smith defeated a Hamilton team before taking losses to teams from Columbia Falls and Whitefish, then rebounded against two more teams, one from Billings Central then another Columbia Falls team.
The Havre debaters won decisions from three-judge panels in debates against another Columbia Falls team and another set of debaters from Whitefish before losing 1-2 in a finals round against debaters from Polson High School.
Senior Jacob Bachmeier, competing at his fourth state tournament for Havre in Lincoln-Douglas debate, saw a tough first-round loss against a Butte Central debater, but came back with a victory second round against a debater from Corvallis.
He lost the third round in a tough match against a Columbia Falls debater, but rebounded in the next two rounds to defeat debaters from Polson and Whitefish.
Going into outrounds with a 3-2 record, Bachmeier defeated a perennial nemesis of his from Laurel on straight ballots before losing, on a split decision, to the Whitefish debater who would go on to win the tournament. Bachmeier ended with a fourth-place finish for Havre.
Two Havre juniors also were on stage for Havre during the awards assemble after breaking into semifinals and finals in their events. Randi Ruhkamp took sixth in original oratory and Ethan Smith placed sixth in dramatic oral interpretation of literature.
Other Blue Ponies scoring team points in Havre by qualifying for the semifinals rounds in their events were seniors Emily Simonson and Chris Steinmetz in dramatic interp and memorized public address, respectively, and junior Sara Kutz-Yeager in humorous oral interpretation of literature.
The team points the students earned, with a final team total of 49 points, came close but were not quite enough, to put the Blue Ponies on stage for one of the three team trophies. Havre took seventh out of the 21 teams at state, with perennial powerhouses Columbia Falls and Whitefish fighting it out once again for first and second, with Columbia Falls taking home the top trophy with 229 points and Whitefish earning 204 points..
Polson came in third with 83 points, Stevensville earned 68, Billings Central 57 and Belgrade rounded out the top six with 55 points.
Havre next goes to Bozeman Feb. 12-13 for its last tournament of the year in Montana, the qualifier for the national tournament set this year in Salt Lake City June 12-17.
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