Havre speech competes at Choteau

Press release

The Havre High School speech and debate team competed at the Holiday Invitational Classic Saturday in Choteau, with some success.

The tournament saw some 25 schools competing, of which Havre was the only Class A school. Teams came from as far away as Dentont-Stanford, Townsend, White Sulphur Springs and Malta to compete in Choteau.

First-year competitor Elaine Atkinson led the charge for the Blue Ponies, competing in humorous oral interpretation of literature. Atkinson beat all 15 other competitors in the preliminary rounds, taking first-place finishes in all three rounds. The panel of judges in the finals round were more critical, and Atkinson ended up in third place.

In informative speaking, Melanie Veith, also a first-year competitor, had her best tournament of the year. Veith received some high marks in the preliminary rounds to break into the finals, and received good marks from the panel of judges there, including one judge ranking her second in the round. Her total score put her in sixth place for Havre.

In team policy debate, Havre’s LillieAnn Mecklenburg and Dartanion Kaftan took third, while fourth-year veteran Kaleb Gardner took third in Lincoln-Douglas debate and freshman Jerzy Borowiecki took fourth in that event.

The tournament did not offer the Class A and AA event public forum debate, but allowed Havre’s two teams in that event to debate each other at Choteau, with coaches judging the rounds. Simon Hart and Xavier Ulano won two of the rounds and Joram Randolph and Noah Teasley won one.

After the Christmas break, the Havre team travels to Great Falls for a tournament hosted by Great Falls Central High School on the University of Providence campus.

The team then travels to the Power-Dutton-Brady/Simms invitational tournament, then to the eastern divisional tournament in Laurel. The top 12 competitors in each event from divisionals qualify to compete at state in Belgrade Jan. 25-26.