AURORA – Denver East certainly made a splash at this year’s Class 5A Speech and Debate State Championships.

At the end of the two-day event that finished on Saturday at Overland High School, Denver East hoisted the first-place trophy for the first time in the school’s history. The Angels did so by winning five disciplines and finishing runner-up in both the speech-only and debate-only sweepstakes.

“This is the first time the program has finished above third,” first-year Denver East head coach Grant Thomas said. “It’s a pretty exciting day. Our seniors have had four coaches over the past four years, as the the program experienced a lot of turmoil. It was all really wonderful people, but it’s hard to build consistency. So coming into this year, we had a bunch of seniors who had been running the show for a really long time.

“It was wonderful to get a chance to help facilitate that and take some of that load off them so they could focus on their own events. If it wasn’t for our seniors, there’s no way we’d be in this position.”

The two-time defending champion George Washington Patriots, who won the speech-only sweepstakes, finished runner-up. The Cherry Creek Bruins won the debate-only sweepstakes and finished third overall.

In the individual events, several competitors defended their titles.

Among those repeat champions – although under unique circumstances – was Nkechi Onyejekwe. The Pueblo West senior won the Original Oratory, giving her four state titles, both in as many years and spread across several classifications.

“Freshman year, it was everyone because it was right after COVID,” Onyejekwe said. “The year after that, we moved divisions to 4A. It was 4A again my junior year and then this year, we moved up to 5A. I’m incredibly grateful. I think when it comes to oratory, especially when you’re coming from a smaller school, when you move to 5A everybody’s looking for the George Washingtons, the Cherry Creeks, the bigger Denver schools. I was lucky enough to have a very strong support program from my coaches and my team, and I just used a lot of resources from the people around me.

“I’m just very grateful to have such a strong community around me that allowed me to use my voice for something impactful.”

Defending her title in Informative Speaking, George Washington’s Lindsay Sieja was the winner once again on Saturday. Denver East’s Fiona Macdonald also defended her title in International Extemporaneous Speaking.

In yet another championship defense, Cherokee Trail’s Temiloluwa Bello won Lincoln Douglas Debate. In Policy Debate, George Washington’s Caroline Maybe (returning champ) and Cade Ramirez were victorious.

There were a number of first-time winners as well.

In Congress, Denver East’s Gavin Neale took home the title. Also for Denver East, the pair of Rosetta Pring and Preston Kang brought home the gold in Duo Interpretation. In yet another win for Denver East, Grayson Kasper won Humorous Interpretation.

George Washington’s Ava Jacobson won Poetry Reading. Also for George Washington, Alison Pellet won Program Oral Interpretation. And once more for George Washington, Adam Wang and John Sheehan won Public Forum Debate.

In Dramatic Interpretation, Aurora Central’s Amani Khalik was the winner.

Fairview’s Carder Squirrell took home the title in United States Extemporaneous Speaking.

In this year’s event, a total of 34 students returned who were finalists last year.