Havre speech does well at Malta

Press release

Havre High School’s speech and debate team traveled east along the Hi-Line to Malta Saturday, where the individuals and the team did well.

Havre took first in the team sweepstakes competition, with Class A rival Browning taking second.

Havre’s Lincoln-Douglas debate squad, all seniors, closed out the top three places in that event, with second-year debater Sterling Shelton taking first, fourth-year veteran Paige Bertelsen taking second and third-year debater Justin Lickfold taking third.

Bertelsen went 3-0 in the preliminary rounds, taking a bye the first round, defeating Shelton in the second round and beating a Browning debater in the third round, with both the second and third rounds close decisions,

Shelton defeated a Browning debater the first round before his loss to Bertelsen, then defeated fellow Blue Pony Lickfold in another close round, giving Lickfold his only loss at the tournament. In the rematch with Bertelsen in the finals, Shelton won on a split decision to take first place.

Lickfold beat Browning debaters in close debates in the first and second rounds before losing to Shelton

With both at 2-1 records, Shelton earning his way into the finals round with two more speaker points than Lickfold, 84 to 82.

On the speech side, Havre’s dramatic oral interpretation competitors both placed, with senior Sophia Dawson taking fourth and sophomore Trinity Olsen taking fifth.

Junior Carina Kline, who normally competes in public forum debate, switched to impromptu speaking at Malta and did well, including getting a second-place rank from one of the three finals judges, and ended in sixth place in impromptu.

Freshman Lyvia Little, who also has been competing competing in public forum debate previously this season, switched to humorous oral interpretation for this weekend, and did well, breaking into the finals round and finishing in eighth place.

Havre is scheduled to compete in Choteau this weekend before taking the Christmas break and is will head to Shelby for its invitational tournament Jan. 7.