Five Big Spring High School students will be representing the school at the University Interscholastic League State Tournament. Juliana Summers, Ashley Melendez, James Pascual, Eleanor Correa and Andrea Guerra qualified for the UIL State Tournament by placing in the top 3 at the Regional Tournament held on the Texas Tech campus, April 25th-26th.
For Summers, this will be her fourth consecutive year at the State Tournament. “I have a bronze medal in Poetry Interpretation from last year’s meet and team medals in Spelling from my freshman and sophomore years.” Summers stated. “Unfortunately, I am the alternate to the State Meet in Poetry this year, but I’m glad my first place in Spelling was able to put our team back at state after a year away.”. Coach Jennifer Adams echoed Summer’s enthusiasm “Julianna has an opportunity that not many kids in the state have ever had, to be able to win a medal at a UIL State competition all four years of high school.” This year, Summers had previously competed in the final round at the UIL 4A Congressional Debate State Meet held at the capitol of Texas in January.
Joining Summers on the Spelling and Vocabulary team are Pascal, Melendez and Guerra. For Pascual, who placed sixth at the Regional Meet in spelling, this will be his second time competing at the State Meet. For Guerra, this will be her first opportunity to compete in Austin for a medal.
Fellow Spelling team member Melendez took no chances and also qualified for the State Meet by placing third in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. She previously competed two times at the State Meet in Literary Criticism which is also coached by Adams. “I moved over from Cross-Examination Debate to Lincoln-Douglas Debate for my senior year, so I was a bit concerned about getting back to state.” Melendez said. “I’m excited by the prospect of being one of the top twelve debaters in the state.”
Correa rounds out the state qualifiers by winning the Regional Championship in Informative Extemporaneous Speaking. Having qualified for the State Meet in the same event as a sophomore but missing going to State last year, Correa was determined; “I was really focused on getting back to state. Winning first place was my goal.” Correa’s win the win in the event marks the third time in a row a Big Spring High School Student has won the Informative Extemporaneous Speaking contest at the Regional Meet.
For coaches Jennifer and Clint Adams, the three individual State Qualifications and one team qualification bring their total UIL State Qualifications to 95 in their 25-year history at the high school. “The hard work and dedication these students have really show up in the results through the years.” Adams said. “We have been fortunate to work with some successful students.
Others placing at the State Meet were James Barker who placed fifth in Prose Interpretation and Braxton Gonzales who placed sixth in Prose. The Speech team brought home a second-place speech team trophy as well. Overall, BSHS placed sixth out of 61 schools competing at the Regional Meet.
The University Interscholastic League Academic State Meet will be held on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, May 19th-20th. The Academic State Meet is the oldest Statewide contest run by the UIL.
(Courtesy Photo: Ashley Melendez, Julianna Summers, Andrea Guerra, Eleanor Correa, not pictured James Pascual)
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