HELENA – The Carroll College Talking Saints won awards in two countries over the past weekend.
The new team members advanced two teams to the championship rounds at the University of Calgary Fall Open, held October 19-20 in Calgary, Alberta.
First-year debaters Stefan Fiandeiro of San Jose, California, and Brady Clark of Madison Wisconsin, finished second to a team from the University of Saskatchewan. Hellie Badaruddin of Missoula and Roisin O’Neill of Lake Oswego, Oregon, reached the semifinals in the BP World Debate event.
“This is such a classy event, run entirely for the benefit of first-year college students,” said coach Brent Northup. “The team got to see a bit of Calgary, meet students from throughout Western Canada and were treated to a tournament-ending banquet. To do well was frosting. The Canadians love that Carroll attends, and they welcome us so warmly.”
The students, passports in hand, enjoyed the outing.
“We learned a lot from them,” said Badaruddin. “We talked about everything from accents, to politics, to college prices. I was surprised about all the little things that were different, even though we’re so close.”
“They have weird words for things, such as tuques and bunny hugs,” laughed first-year student Mariah Hurd of Seattle, referring to the beanies and sweatshirts she saw Canadian students wearing. “And I made some really great friends up there. We talk every day.”
Meanwhile, 1,000 miles south at the University of Denver, the upperclass Carroll teams competed in the Rocky Mountain Championships, winning three awards.
Junior Josh Mansfield of Pocatello, Idaho, and senior Kelsie Watkins of Snohomish, Washington, reached the semifinals in the 60-team event. Mansfield was named second best speaker with Watkins in third.
“This event has national-level teams, so it’s a challenging weekend,” said Northup. “Josh and Kelsie were ranked second after prelims, and were in contention to win the whole affair. Alas, a Regis team kept the trophy in Denver.”
Parts of the team head to Spokane, Washington, this week, and Casper, Wyoming, next weekend, before the full squad heads to the first leg of the regional championships at Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, November 8-10.