Some six dozen outstanding students from around Central Texas competed at the UIL Academic & Speech State Championships held May 14-15 at the University of Texas at Austin.
After excelling at district competitions, students at the regional meets advanced to state by placing in the top three individually or as part of a winning team. Also, the best-performing second-place team in each classification among all four regions advanced to state in each contest as a wild-card entry.
Excelling with essay
Connally High School junior Glyn McDaniel was recognized for her writing in the Latino History Essay contest, placing fifth in the state against students from schools of all sizes.
McDaniel wrote about Texas artist Ines Alvidres of Beaumont, whose colorful works have been featured at multiple local venues, including the Mayborn Museum.
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Students in the open competition are asked to conduct original research that adds to the historical record of Latinos in Texas, including focusing on people, groups or movements in a local community. They are encouraged to use firsthand accounts and primary sources in writing a 1,500- to 2,500-word research paper-style essay.
The essay competition is a relatively new UIL event, first judged in the 2012-13 school year.
Crawford spells success
Crawford High School had the best showing of any school in McLennan County at the state meet, notching four top-three finishes in various events and finishing 14th overall.
Grant Underwood won the state Class 2A spelling and vocabulary competitionby one point with a score of 90, edging Macy Bayer of Muenster. The Crawford team of Underwood, Brooke Bubert (14th, 77 points), Colette Cohrs (21st, 60) and Blake Underwood (25th, 35) was the state runner-up in the event.
In current issues and events, Crawford nabbed another 2A silver as the team of Brady Vanek, Mason Vanek, Blake Underwood and Grant Underwood narrowly lost to Sabine Pass by four points. Mason Vanek won second place individually, writing the best essay and finishing just three points back overall with a score of 78. Brady Vanek was fifth (76), Blake Underwood was eighth (73) and Grant Underwood tied for 16th (54).
The Pirates also qualified for state in social studies with the team of Grant Underwood (tied for 13th, 51 points), Skye Robb (21st, 39) Brady Vanek (22nd, 38) and Mason Vanek (tied for 23rd, 31) finishing fifth in Class 2A.
Crawford finished 14th overall in Class 2A at the state meet.
Rapoport on radar
The Meyer High School team from Rapoport Academy is clearly experimenting with UIL success, placing fourth in the Class 2A state science competition this year.
Marco Cunningham notched the fourth-highest score in Class 2A on the biology portion of the test, helping him tie for seventh overall with a score of 74.
The Ravens team also included regional champion Caedmon Kelley, who placed 12th with 46 points, Roy Carney (tied for 17th, 34) and Hannah Whitlark (tied for 22nd, 30).
Mart does the math
Codey Cardwell of Mart High School emerged as a triple threat in Class 2A, leading the Panthers to a strong showing across UIL's numerical competitions.
Cardwell won the state title in number sense with a score of 198, placed second in calculator applications with 266 and third in the mathematics competition at 158.
The Mart math team qualified as a wild card to the state meet as well with Cardwell, Thomas Smith (19th), Lillian Greene(20th) and MichaelPaul Loftice(21st) contributing to a fifth-place finish in Austin.
4-time champion
ForLuke Maxwelland Jonesboro High School, 2024 was a year for the record books.
The 18-year-old senior was just the second person in UIL history to win the number sense competition in all four years of high school.
His achievement is all the more remarkable considering Maxwell was diagnosed at age of 5 with Asperger's syndrome, a high-function form of autism, according to his mother, Betsy Spitzer.
"He really is an exceptional child, and his story is one that tends to inspire others," Spitzer wrote in a message to the Tribune-Herald.
Thanks to Maxwell's performance, Jonesboro's state wild-card team finished second in the number sense competition, becoming the first in school history to post a top-three finish at the state academic meet. The team includedPate Foote(17th),Braden Ashby(19th) andDeMarcus Acoff(21st).
Maxwell also tied for 17th in the mathematics competition at the state meet.
“He knows he is good, but he knows he should not boast or brag,” Spitzertold the Gatesville Messenger.“When I look at my child and all he has accomplished, I am reminded that it is not what people say, but what God says about us that matters. God says my son is a champion.”
Fairfield cracks code
Newton Hartley of Fairfield High Schoolclearly got with the program, but you might also call it a stack overflow.
Hartley and two other Class 3A students finished in a tie for the state championship in the UIL computer science competition. Levi Johanon of Harmony School of Innovation in Fort Worth and Abraham Hernandez of Randolph High School in Universal City were the other co-champions.
All three students scored 232 on their written exams with an accuracy score of 97.5%, meaning they all answered 39 of the 40 questions correctly. A perfect score is 240.
The Eaglescomputer sciencesquad of Hartley, Luke Cruce (16th, 182 points), Preston Scott and Eashan Kalyanji (tied for 21st, 162 points) placed third in the team competition, which adds the top three individual exam scores to additional points earned for several collaborative team programming tasks.
Fairfield scored 300 on the team tasks, tied for the best mark in the state with Harmony and Randolph, for a total score of 876, just three points behind second-place Wall High School.
Additionally, Scott placed third in the computer applications competition with a score of 280, while 2023 state champion Kalyanji placed sixth at 225.
In other events, regional champion Carolyn Dunlap of Fairfield placed fourth in editorial writing whileAdalyn Peterson competed in headline writing.
The Eagles finished 13th overall in Class 3A at the state meet.
WISD, Midway and more
- University High School senior Jimesha Pringle advanced to state in poetry interpretation, while Midway High School's Colin Jones and Diana Dumas competed in editorial writing and ready writing, respectively, at the meet in Austin last month.
- Paxton Pustejovsky of Abbott High School took home third-place honors in the Class 1A poetry interpretation contest at the state meet, which is a judged competition.
- Blane Mynarcik of Bynum High Schoolwon third place in literary criticism in the 1A contest, helping his Bulldogs team to a fourth-place finish. The Bynum team of Mynarcik, Sakura Jenkins, Colin Poole(tied for 13th) and Brayslyn Griffith(20th) qualified as a wild card for state.
- Carlie Bobarof Aquilla High Schoolwas fourth in 1A headline writing, while Aquilla'sJordan Crawsoncompeted in feature writing.
- Hico High School sent seven students to state, with Julia O'Neal placing sixth in Class 2Acomputer applications. Camille Dee was 17th in literary criticism and Cason Tipper was 18th in current events. Other qualifiers included Emory Hunt (prose interpretation),River Nelson (editorial writing), Madison Dobie (feature writing) and Alondra Robles(headline writing).
- Also in Class 2A, Dawson High School'sVictor Vizcarra competed in editorial writing and Leon High School's Tyler Evans competed in headline writing.
- In feature writing, Clifton High School's Riley Ball placed sixth at the state meet in Class 3A, where he also competed in news writing.
- Rogers High School students competing at state included Kambry Jarolik, the 3A regional prose interpretation champion, and Jo Chervenkain copy editing. From Buffalo High School,Ryan Brown (headline writing) and Tristan Cole (Lincoln-Douglas debate) qualified for state in 3A.
- From Belton ISD,Taylor Rogersof Lake Belton High School finished fifth in literary criticism, Belton High School'sAnahitaa Malhotraplaced 10th in computer applications, andSteven Melo Arantesof BHS competed in ready writing.
Salado strong
Salado High School was the top performer around Central Texas, finishing second overall in Class 4A and continuing its tradition of strong showings at the UIL state academic meet.
The Eagles boast two 2024 state champions with Laura Ball in Lincoln-Douglas debate and Wesley Engleking in persuasive speaking. Ball was also third in informative speaking, while Salado's Krystle Vazquez was runner-up in persuasive speaking.
Salado's number-crunchers worked overtime, too, as the mathematics team and calculator applications teams both took second place with the number sense team placing third.
All four members of Salado's calculator team placed in the top 10 at state, with Ty Castrothird (287 points), Paige Fariss fourth (285), Matthew Cabaniss sixth (259) and Thomas Novotny tied for seventh (252).
Luke Drigalla was third in the math competition with a score of 256, while Fariss (sixth, 220), Luke Leiskau (12th, 144) and Elliot Self (13th, 140) had strong showings for the team.
The number sense team included Drigalla (fifth, 217 points), Jack Cabaniss (eighth, 207), Chloe Rose (16th, 133) and Mason Olson (18th, 127).
Salado's Ethan Sunshine tied for fifth in spelling and vocabulary with a score of 86, and Austin Hollas placed sixth in computer applications with 70 points.
Spelling Bees
A wild-card qualifier after finishing runner-up at regionals, the Academy High School spelling and vocabulary team won third place in Class 3A at state. Haley Splawn led the way for the Bumblebees, tying for sixth place with 86 points, with Ja'elle Bujen (11th, 80), Bethel Tsai (15th, 77) and Joshua Gonzales (23rd, 39) rounding out the team.
Academy's Stephanie Burgar finished fifth in poetry interpretation.
State alternates
Although they did not compete at the UIL state meet, several dozen students from around Central Texas were named state alternates after placing fourth through sixth in their events at their respective regional meets; the top three finishers advance to state from regionals. Second-place teams at regionals are also named state alternates. They include:
Accounting — Lauren Giedt, China Spring; Eashan Kalyanji, Fairfield; Abbott team (Paxton Pustejovsky, Will Gerik, Connor Sullins, Brady Schulz), as well as Pustejovsky and Gerik, individually;Luwi Rodriguez, Evant
Calculator applications — Zach Frausto, Cameron Yoe; individually, Ty Castro, Matthew Cabaniss and Thomas Notovny of Salado
Computer applications — Devin Land, Bruceville-Eddy; Aiden Adams, Fairfield; Chase Aggers, Belton
Copy editing — Carlie Bobar, Aquilla; Luke Miller, Moody; Megan Bansal, Lake Belton
Computer science — Bruceville-Eddy team (Trey Gail, Morgan Myers, Nicholas Squyres, Austin Grider) and Gail, individually; Luke Cruce, Fairfield, individually
Current issues and events — Hico team (Cason Tipper, Adrian Ruiz, Kyler Clay, Hudson Skaggs); Monte Swaner, Mart; Mason Vanek, Crawford, individually; Josh Kohring and Jackson Dolgener, Rogers; Kaci Armstrong, Blooming Grove
Literary criticism — Fairfield team (Anna Moyer, Lydia Morgan, Kynzee Payne, Devon McNeil), as well as Moyer and Morgan individually
Mathematics — Shinki Miyagi, Rogers; individually, Elliot Self and Luke Leiskau of Salado
Number sense — Max Stalker, Abbott; Mart team (Codey Cardwell, Jacob Cardwell, Thomas Smith, Bo Gill); Ethan Althoff and Skye Robb, Crawford; Madilynn Hamilton, McGregor; Zach Frausto, Cameron Yoe; Alfonso Rodriguez, Fairfield; individually, Mason Olson and Jack Cabaniss of Salado
Science — Lydia Morgan, Fairfield
Social studies — individually, Grant Underwood and Mason Vanek of Crawford
Spelling and vocabulary — Salado team (Ethan Sunshine, Hoak Rine, Davis Graham, Will Tarver); Haley Splawn, Academy, individually; Trey Gail, Bruceville-Eddy; Brooke Bubert, Crawford, individually; Yahir Yepez, Fairfield
Editorial writing — Karsen Stephens, Rogers
Feature writing — Carlie Bobar, Aquilla; Ryan Brown, Buffalo; Janiah Whitely, Belton
Headline writing — Pearl Dong, Meridian; Michigan Fetsch, Axtell;Marley Miller, West; Callie Morgan, Fairfield; Emilio Palacios, Robinson
News writing — Keylee Hill, Aquilla; Sara Ellis, Salado; Emma Walker, Midway
Ready writing — Vance Bach, Lorena
Informative speaking — Kaylen Sanchez, Buffalo
Persuasive speaking — Nicollette Arabie, Buffalo; Scarlett Williams, Lake Belton
Poetry interpretation — Kaylee Hunt, Hico; Jeana Green, Hubbard
Prose interpretation — Landon Ince, Hico; Derrick Thomas, University
Lincoln-Douglas debate — T'Anna Horne, Bruceville-Eddy; AJ Fetsch and Kanon Blanco, Axtell
Honor Crew
Several schools around Central Texas participated in the state meet as part of the Speech & Debate Honor Crew program, which recognizes mature, outstanding students around the state not participating in the meet. They included:
University High School — Rachelle Escobar, Kaylie Stevens and coach Melynda Jones
Axtell High School — Adelaide Blanchard, Alyssa Reyna and coach Nathan Morrill
Belton High School — Aubrey Meehan and coach Brandi Peebles
Buffalo High School — Kaylen Sanchez and coach Melonie Menefee
Editor's note: These results were obtained from the SpeechWire Tournament Services system used by the UIL (postings.speechwire.com).
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