Speech & Debate: 4A State Championships Set for Friday, Saturday
Photo: Brad Cochi
AURORA – The Colorado High School Activities Association will host the 2026 4A Speech and Debate State Championships on Friday and Saturday at Pueblo Central High School.
The 4A State Tournament will have competitions in Dramatic Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Program Oral Interpretation, International Extemporaneous Speaking, United States Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Poetry Reading, Public Forum Debate and Congressional Debate.
The championship field includes nine students in eight competitions who will be looking to defend their titles from a year ago, including two each from Rocky Mountain Prep-Rise (Poetry Interpretation champion Brianna Valle, who is competing in Duo Interpretation, and Dramatic Interpretation Champion Victoria Nungaray-Arias) and Lewis-Palmer (Original Oratory champion Julianna Wainwright and Program Oral Interpretation champion Jada Roberson.) Other returning champions include: Lincoln-Douglas Debate champion Jonathan Howard of Longmont, Public Forum Debate champions Saatwik Das and Tanush Shekhar of Peak to Peak, Informational Speaking champion Alexander Hoff of Palmer Ridge, and Congressional Debate champion Sara Zareva of Air Academy.
Defending state champion Rocky Mountain Prep – RISE returns a strong team after winning its first state title last year with 65 points. Lewis-Palmer was second with 49, Peak to Peak was third with 42, Cheyenne Mountain place fourth with 40, and Palisade was fifth with 36.
In addition to Zareva, the rest of the Congressional field includes runner-up Tessa Howell of Thompson Valley
In Humourous Interpretation, the competitors include LJ Neal of RISE, who was second in Duo Interpretation last year, and Saviour Jerusalem of RISE, who was fourth in Dramatic Interpretation.
Layth Khaleq of RISE, third in Humorous Interpretation last year, will compete in Duo Interpretation with Valle. Also in Duo Interpretation is Lewis-Palmer’s Sydney Bell, who was fifth in Informative Speaking in 2025.
In additon to Hoff, the Informational Speaking competition includes Grayson Hester of Lewis-Palmer, who was fourth last year.
In International Extemporaneous Speaking, Cheyenne Mountain’s Max Murphy returns after finising as the runner-up a year ago. So does Cindy Woo of Peak to Peak, who was fourth, Discovery Canyon’s Aryan Tuteja, who was fifth, and Peak to Peak’s Shrika Acharya, who was sixth. The field also includes Delta’s Hayden Pirela, who was fourth in United States Extemporaneous Speaking.
Discovery Canyon’s Gautam Devulapalli, runner-up to Howard in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, returns again this year.
Peak to Peak’s Neva Joseph and Neha Pesaramelli lead the returning cast in United States Extemporaneous Speaking after placing second and third, respectively. Conner Lewandowski of Palmer Ridge is back after placing sixth.
In Original Oratory, in addition to Wainright, the competitors include 2025 third-place finisher Emily Soesilo of Peak to Peak and fifth-place finisher Marina Schnickel of Air Academy.
In Program Oral Interpretation, the field includes Canon City’s Keta Farmer, who placed fourth a year ago, and Lewis-Palmer’s Annika Lindemann, who was fourth in Original Oratory.
With Valle in another event, the top returning competitor in Poetry Reading is Widefield’s Jean Toth, who was fifth in 2025.
In Dramatic Interpretation, the list includes Sofia Gonzalez of RISE, who was fifth in Program Oral Interpretation last year.
The Discovery Canyon duo of Afifah Zeeshan and Cadence Jaramillo are back to challenge Das and Shekhar of Peak to Peak after finishing second to them in 2025.
