Four Big Spring High School students will be representing the school at the University Interscholastic League State Tournament. Juliana Summers, Tyler Grove, Ashley Melendez, and Chloe Sanchez qualified for the UIL State Tournament by placing in the top 3 at the Regional Tournament held on the Texas Tech campus, April 26th-27th.
For Summers, this will be her third consecutive year at the State Tournament. “The last two years I was a part of the spelling team that qualified for state,” Summers stated. “Unfortunately, the spelling team did not qualify, but I am happy that I qualified in poetry. The junior placed second in poetry interpretation. “We are excited for Juliana,” Coach Jennifer Adams said, “she is the first student that BSHS has qualified in poetry and prose reading in nine years.”
Joining Summers at State is Senior Tyler Grove. Grove is no stranger to the state meet either, having placed second in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2023 State Meet. Grove also won the 4A State Championship earlier this year in Congressional Debate. The win earned Grove the distinction of being the back-to-back 4A Region 1 champion. Grove also placed fifth in Persuasive Extemporaneous Speaking.
Fellow Debate team member Ashley Melendez took another path to the State Meet by winning the Regional Championship in Literary Criticism which is also coached by Adams. “Literary Criticism is a difficult event to compete in.” Adams stated, “You have to have knowledge of literature as well as Nobel prize winners in literature and literary techniques.”
Chloe Sanchez rounds out the state qualifiers by winning the Regional Championship in Informative Extemporaneous Speaking. “I was surprised about qualifying,” Sanchez said. “It was not my best speech and I thought I missed my chance to go to state.” Sanchez also placed fifth in Prose Interpretation. Sanchez also qualified for the Congressional State Meet as well as the Cross-Examination State Meet with Melendez earlier this year.
For coaches Jennifer and Clint Adams, the four State Qualifications bring their total UIL State Qualifications to 90 in their 24-year history at the high school. “We have been very lucky to coach at a school with excellent students and a supportive administration.” Adams said.
Others placing at the Regional Meet were Luis Aguirre who placed fifth in Computer Applications, Trinity LaPlante who placed fifth in Ready Writing, and James Pascual who placed fifth in Spelling. Overall, BSHS placed sixth out of 49 schools competing at the Regional Meet.
Earning team awards were the Speech Team who earned the second-place speech team award as well as the Spelling team and the Literary Criticism team who both won third place team awards.
The University Interscholastic League Academic State Meet will be held on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, May 14th-16th. The Academic State Meet is the oldest Statewide contest run by the UIL.
(Courtesy Photo L to R: Tyler Grove, Chloe Sanchez, Juliana Summers, Ashley Melendez)
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