Havre speech and debate takes trophy at Shelby

Press release

The Havre High School speech and debate team again saw success Saturday at a local tournament, taking first place in the Class A competition at Shelby.

“The season is looking really good,” head coach Tim Leeds said. “Our speakers are working hard and continuing to improve as the year goes on.”

The Havre students competed against other speakers from 16 other schools from Class A through Class C at the Shelby tournament.

Havre won the Class A competition with 58 points, with Central A Division rival Browning taking second with 7 points.

Leading the way for the Blue Ponies were varsity competitors Ethan Smith and Trent Smith, both seniors, and both with perfect records in the preliminary rounds.

Ethan Smith, competing in dramatic interpretation of literature, received three first-place ranks in the preliminaries and a two firsts and a fourth from the finals-round panel of judges to earn his medal in the event.

Trent Smith, competing in his first tournament in Lincoln-Douglas debate for Havre , went undefeated in the preliminary rounds and went 2-1 in the finals decision against a debater from Shelby to earn his first-place finish.

Kaleb Gardner, a sophomore, won his first two rounds in Lincoln-Douglas debate before losing a close round to the Shelby debater who ended up in finals. Gardner took third at the tournament.

Freshmen Preston Glock and Brennen Gruszie competed at their first tourmanent in team policy debate in a round-robin competition and ended up in second place.

Senior Jesse Riska also scored points for the Havre victory, taking third in memorized public address, while first-year competitor Brady Ophus, competing in his second tournament in impromptu speaking, broke into finals and ended up in fifth in that event.

The Havre team next travels to Malta for its invitational tournament Saturday.