Divisional qualifiers advance to the state tournament Friday and Saturday at Belgrade High School. This was the first year of a new, two-division format in Class A for determining state qualifiers. Previously, there were four divisional tournaments.

Columbia Falls was led by first-place finishes in Policy Debate, where Colin Norick and Annabel Conger continued their winning streak, and Public Forum Debate, with Anna Nicosia and Mary Ward.

In speech, Columbia Falls divisional champions were Jerelyn Jones in Dramatic Oral Interpretation and Ava Chisholm in Humorous Oral Interpretation.

“The competition in the west is fierce and we were within a couple of points of Whitefish all day,” Columbia Falls Head Coach Tara Norick said. “The tough competition will help us prepare for state.”

Whitefish was led by Abbie Belcher, who took first in Impromptu and second in Extemporaneous; Sam Benkelman, divisional champion in Original Oratory and runner-up in Memorized Public Address; and Zach Ade, who won Memorized Public Address and was third in Extemporaneous.

Polson was paced by Lincoln-Douglas champion Kenyon Cairns, who had to overcome a scoring glitch that initially had kept him out of the final round.

“For the second time this season, an error was made regarding Kenyon’s ability to advance into his next round,” Polson Coach Jon Peterson said.

“This was really unfortunate, because we had to stop the finals round of Lincoln-Douglas and replace another competitor with Kenyon, who had won his semifinal round with a 3-0 score. I feel terrible for the student that had to be replaced. But it is a credit to Kenyon’s cool demeanor that he was able to deal with the confusion and win his final debate.”

WESTERN A DIVISIONAL

Team Sweepstakes

1. Columbia Falls 232

2. Whitefish 218

3. Polson 75

4. Stevensville 70

5. Corvallis 68

6. Hamilton 48

7. Butte Central 16

8. Beaverhead 10

9. Frenchtown 0

Individual results

COLUMBIA FALLS

Impromptu: 3. Ava Chisholm; 6. Tim Ingham

Extemporaneous: 4. Danny Morgan; 6. Alex Garate

Humorous Oral Interpretation: 1. Ava Chisholm; 3. Jerelyn Jones; 5. Brandon Karberg

Dramatic Oral Interpretation: 1. Jerelyn Jones; 3. Estevon Torres; 7. Jacob Hohman

Expository: 2. Emily Getts; 3. Samantha Gilk; 7. Danielle Rosenbaum

Original Oratory: 3. Chloe Foster; 4. Willie Baltz; 5. Emily Getts

Memorized Public Address: 3. Joey Chester; 4. Chloe Foster

Public Forum: 1. Anna Nicosia/Mary Ward; 6. Cassidy Norick/Kelsey Wright; 8. Sarah Posey McGough/Mike Dittrich

Lincoln Douglas: 5. Mikel Knutson; 6. Tyler Brown

Policy: 1. Annabel Conger/Colin Norick; 6. Shayne Williams/Ruth Nelson

WHITEFISH

Policy Debate: 2. Ian Caltabiano/Zach Kasselder, 5. Mirielle Kruger/Kate Doorn; State qualifiers — Jade Greenberg and Ella Greenberg

Public Forum debate: 3. Bergen Carloss/Kate Ehrenberg, 4. Cody Casazza/Bailey Mccann; State qualifiers — Solomon Zeigert and Julien Leroux

Lincoln-Douglas Debate: 3. Dakota Henson; State qualifiers — Lilly Butts, Mary Hook

Impromptu: 1. Abbie Belcher; 4. Saige Perchy; 5. Teigen Tremper

Extemporaneous: 2. Abbie Belcher, 3. Zach Ade; State qualifier — Makkie Haller

Humorous Oral Interpretation: State qualifier — Saige Perchy

Dramatic Oral Interpretation: 3. Hunter Cripe; 5. Ella van Vlack; State qualifier — Naya Brigette

Expository: 5. Teigen Tremper; State qualifier — Regan Tintzman

Original Oratory: 1. Sam Benkelman; 2. Hunter Cripe; State qualifier — Lindsey Matulionis

Memorized Public Address: 1. Zach Ade; 2. Sam Benkelman; 6. Austin Reese

POLSON

Lincoln-Douglas Debate: 1. Kenyon Cairns

Public Forum Debate: 2. Mollie Lemm/Katelyn Toland

Policy Debate: 3. Annabelle Smith/Sophia Speckert

Memorized Public Address: 5. Alex Salois

Humorous Interpretation: 6. Nathan DePoe

Additional Polson state qualifiers: Jordan Croft, Humorous Interpretation; Geneva des Lions, Impromptu Speaking; Makauly Morrison, Extemporaneous Speaking; Zachary Evertz, Expository Speaking; Asher Dalbey, Lincoln-Douglas Debate