Helena, MT – Ten Carroll College Talking Saints, about half the team, competed at the Whitworth University tournament on October 24-25, winning 15 awards, including two first place finishes by nursing student Jenna Hammond from Libby, Mont., in Editorial Commentary and sophomore Kate Wilkins from Salt Lake City in Extemporaneous Speaking. Hammond also won three more awards in duo, impromptu and poetry.
The tournament was the last “home game” for pirate coach Mike Ingram, who has coached at Whitworth since 1988. The award ceremony included a celebration of Ingram’s career.
“Mike started a year before I arrived at Carroll,” said Saints coach Brent Northup, “And we’ve been good friends since then. He’s wimping out early, but I forgive him. His students are wonderful speakers and kind, just like their coach.”
Carroll gave Ingram a Carroll team jacket which he graciously accepted.
Other Carroll winners included senior Olivia Smith, an education major who hopes to coach math and speech at Bozeman High, where she attended. Smith won four awards, including third in persuasive speaking.
First-year Kimber Koteskey of Great Falls placed in two events, winning second in impromptu and third in prose. Leah Melvin, a sophomore from Kimberly, Idaho, won two second place awards in poetry and dramatic interpretation. The team competed only in speech and drama. The debaters will be back in action at Linfield on November 14-16.
“A highlight of the tournament was all the alums that came to see us and help out,” said Northup. “Darrell ’94 and Elissa Keim ’92 drove up from Moscow, Idaho, to see daughter Katy. Elissa was on the team when I arrived in 1989, and Darrell arrived soon after. They fell in love and then there were three. Mark Friendshuh ’94 also came to help out, and to see his friends Elissa and Katy.
Mark’s daughter Sarah, a junior at Carroll, is close friends with Katy, but Sarah resisted the urge to follow her dad and join the team.
Talking Saints alum Alaina Hull ’14 and her wife Alex came to visit from Elk, Washington, bringing along seven-month-old Archer. Sophomore Sophie Portmann’s parents drove over from Kalispell to watch, and coach Anna Hoerner’s mom Leslie of Spokane was present to visit her daughter.
“It’s been a while since I held a team baby,” said Northup. “He seemed happy and didn’t cry! He’ll join the team in 2044. Can’t wait.”
Charlie Said ‘25, drove over from Seattle as well, with his wife Sarah, a Whitworth team alum.
Coach Mark Porrovecchio ’95, head coach at Oregon State, completed a Carroll reunion weekend.
“There are a lot of wonderful people who are part of the Talking Saints tree,” said Northup. “That’s the joy of being around a while. The former team members stay in touch, and help when they can. We’re planning a Talking Saints reunion for the June 27, 2026, weekend which will probably bring a lot of memories to campus. We’re likely to have altogether too much fun. What happens at the reunion, stays at the reunion.”
After the tournament, the students chose Kimber Koteskey to receive the “Carroll Bear,” a stuffed animal given to the student who was the most supportive and nurturing to others in the heat of competition. Koteskey was presented with a cuddly rainbow trout, purchased in St. Regis souvenir shop during a team stop for huckleberry milkshakes.
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