Delta Wins Second-Straight 4A Speech & Debate State Championship

PUEBLO – Despite being one of the smaller schools in Class 4A, the Delta speech and debate team certainly has held its own against the competition.

At the 4A state championships on Saturday at Pueblo Central, the Delta team took home the speech and debate championship with its second first-place team sweepstakes finish in as many years.

“When we won it last year, the team was mostly seniors,” Delta coach Danielle Lopez said. “There were a lot of underclassmen, but it was mostly seniors. I told them this year they could do anything they wanted, so we went to so many tournaments all over the state just hoping to gain the experience because our district is small in Western Colorado. We were hoping to gain the experience to come here and do well.”

Lewis-Palmer was second on the list of speech and debate schools of excellence, and the team from RISE was third.

“I was surprised just like I was surprised when we won last year,” Lopez said. “This year, we came back and I had mostly the same kids, but I was really intimidated by all the results that were coming in from RISE. I thought RISE was going to win, so I had made my peace with it and we define success in other ways. I told myself that if they tried their best and prepared for every event, I would be happy with that.

“We played a strategy – we really prepped hard for congress and we had three finishers in congress – and it worked out for us.”

On the list of speech schools of excellence, Delta and RISE tied for first, while Lewis-Palmer finished third. On the debate schools of excellence list, Discovery Canyon took first, while Delta was second and Lewis-Palmer was third.

Not surprisingly, all of the aforementioned schools fared well in the individual disciplines.

In congress, Lewis-Palmer’s Anna Hacker took first with Delta’s Alex Burruss finishing runner-up. Pueblo Centennial’s Ky Burton won dramatic interpretation with Lewis-Palmer’s Delilah Williams finishing second.

In duo interpretation, the RISE pair of Thomas Okine and LJ Neal took first place and La Junta’s Jackie Becerra and Lexi McClure were second. Woodland Park’s Caleb Kezeor won humorous interpretation for the second year in a row and Hoehne’s Kami Furia was second.

Thompson Valley’s Jaden Fitzpatrick won informative speaking, followed by Mountain View’s Maddie Bellmar. In international extemporaneous speaking, Pueblo County’s Axel Enochson was first and Palisade’s Ian Allen was second.

In Lincoln Douglas debate, Pueblo West’s Riya Singh was first and Hoehne’s Bryan Williams was second. In original oratory, Pueblo West’s Nkechi Onejekwe defended her title and Lewis-Palmer’s Julianna Wainright was runner-up.

Poetry reading also saw a defending champion repeat, with Delta’s Morgan Farmer placing first and RISE’s Kiah Bristol coming in second.

In program oral interpretation, Lewis-Palmer’s Jada Roberson was first and Delta’s Aid Collins was second.

The Delta pair of Nick Serve and Derek Boyd won public forum debate, and Cheyenne Mountain’s Koen Beaver and Henry Lawless were runners-up.

In United State extemporaneous speaking, Pueblo West’s Phil Rasmussen was first and Colorado Academy’s Kit Freeman was second.