HELENA – The Carroll College Talking Saints closed the semester by winning five awards at two online tournaments held on December 4–5 in Washington state at Seattle University and Lower Columbia College.
Sophomore Melissa Jagelski of Ontario, Oregon, and senior Ally Haegele of Helena reached quarterfinals in British Parliamentary Debate (BP) at Seattle U, with Haegele honored as 8th best speaker. Teams from six countries and four continents competed, with Carroll the third seeded team after prelims.
“Melissa and Ally had a great weekend,” said coach Brent Northup. “They won four of their five prelim rounds against really good teams – and were the top-ranked team after the first three rounds. Our whole squad was cheering for them in quarters, but they were edged out by Claremont and Vanderbilt. This was an overdue breakthrough weekend for them.”
At Lower Columbia, first-year Angelica Sutton of Wolf Point reached finals of novice impromptu, and with first-year partner Anna Brown won novice duo with a piece paying tribute to nurses during COVID.
“They wanted to call attention to the sacrifices of healthcare workers during COVID,” said Northup. “The script is a collage of voices of nurses talking about the stress, the abuse and the joy of helping patients during the pandemic.”
Juniors Rylie Weeks of Kalispell and Mariah Hurd of Seattle placed first in junior duo.
The team returns to action on January 28-30 for the year’s final regional championship tournament to be hosted online by Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.