Ronan speech and debate off to strong start

The Ronan High School speech and debate squad kicked off its 2020-21 season Dec. 4-5 in an event hosted by Whitefish High School.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, this year students are competing in virtual tournaments using a platform created by the National Speech and Debate Association.

Despite a steep learning curve and rules changes, Ronan's team of 13 students started strong.

Senior Sariel Sandovol took first place in original oratory, and sophomore Jaslyn Frost took first in humorous interpretation of literature. Vicente Ortega, a senior, came in fourth in humorous interpretation.

Maggie Wurster and Emma Pierce qualified for semifinal competition in dramatic interpretation of literature, while Lincoln Douglas debater Dylan Schock and policy debaters Aaliyah Decker and Lexie Gauthier picked up preliminary wins in their events.

Laurel hosted the team’s second virtual tournament on Dec. 11-12. In that event, Sandovol grabbed a second win in original oratory, and Vicente Ortega and Jaselyn Frost took fifth and sixth place, respectively, in humorous interpretation. Wurster and Pierce were semifinal qualifiers in dramatic interpretation and Kyyen Shigley was a semifinalist in informative speaking. Policy duo Decker and Gauther scored a preliminary-round win.

The Ronan team placed in the top 10 out of 21 teams in both tournaments.