Havre speech sending 15 to state

Press release

While they didn't bring home any divisional champions, the Havre High School speech and debate team made a strong showing at the Class A Eastern Divisional Tournament in Miles City, qualifying the entire team for state, bringing home 11 sets of divisional medals and just missing bringing home a divisional team trophy.

The Blue Ponies were competing against teams from the other 10 eastern Class A schools competing this year, Billings Central High School, Custer County District High School in Miles City, Dawson County High School in Glendive, Fergus High School in Lewistown, Hardin High School, Laurel High School, Park High School in Livingston, Sidney High School and a fledgling team from East Helena High School, which had state qualifiers and also took home some divisional medals in its first year in operation.

"I was hoping to bring home some divisional champions - we had the ability and talent to do it - but it wasn't in the cards," head coach Tim Leeds said. "This was a tough tournament."

"Judges had a hard time ranking the students, with scores all over the map, not just for Havre but in all events for all schools. Some students had consistent marks, but we had some who would get first place in one round and fifth in the next.

"It continued in finals," Leeds added. "We had three Havre High competitors who got first place from one of the three judges in finals and last place from another. Again, this was a tough tournament."

Havre nearly brought home a third-place team trophy from Miles City, scoring 74 points to end in fourth place.

Taking third was Billings Central with 88 points, while Fergus took second with 92 and Laurel won the first-place trophy with an astounding 153 points.

Competitors who placed in the top eight received medals, and the top 12 qualified for state in Whitefish this weekend.

Havre did bring home two second-place medals, along with a third-, two fourth-, a fifth-, two sixth-, three seventh-, a ninth-, a 10th- and an 11th-place finish.

Junior Elaine Atkinson took three first- and one second-place finishes in preliminary rounds in humorous oral interpretation of literature to break into finals at the top of the pack. She couldn't quite pull off the first-place ranks there, taking two seconds and one fourth, and received a second-place medal.

Freshman Dever Everingham took 10th and sophomore Tristan Molyneaux placed 11th in that event.

The public forum debate team of Dartanion Kaftan and Xavier Ulano, competing together in their second tournament after some shuffling on Havre's debate squad, went 3-1 in preliminaries and went into semifinals to defeat a Laurel team.

Kaftan and Ulano lost to a Fergus team in finals and ended in second.

Havre's other public forum team, juniors Joram Randolph and Noah Teasle, went 2-2 in tough preliminary rounds and ended up in sixth place.

In Lincoln-Douglas debate, LillieAnn Mecklenburg returned to that event after spending most of the last two seasons in public forum with Kaftan.

At Miles City, her second tournament back in LD, Mecklenburg was the only LD debater to go undefeated in preliminary rounds, but lost on a split ballot in a tough debate with a Laurel debater end ended up receiving a third-place medal.

Havre LD debaters Mackenzie Kuhn and Paige Bertelsen, both freshmen, went 2-2 and 1-3 in preliminary rounds, respectively, with Kuhn winning a sixth-place medal and Bertelsen earning a trip to Whitefish with her finish in 11th.

In informative speaking, sophomore Melanie Veith - who earned one first-place finish in preliminary rounds - ended up in fourth place while senior Alyssa Smith, who consistently earned second- and third-place preliminary round finishes, took seventh.

Freshman Kate Hemmer continued her strong showing in original oratory, ending up in fourth place in a performance that included three first-place finishes in preliminary rounds.

Senior Angelle Roen, competing in her first oratory competition and who was double-entered in memorized public address as well, also received first-place rankings, one in preliminaries and one in finals, and ended up in fifth in that event.

Roen took seventh in memorized public address, where she also took one first-place ranking in finals.

And sophomore Scarlett Marin, competing in her second tournament for Havre after transferring from Fort Benton High School and also earning first-place rankings from one preliminary round and one finals judge, brought home a seventh-place medal from Miles City.

"I am really proud of how these kids did in Miles City," Leeds said. "I can't wait to see how things play out this weekend in Whitefish."