George Washington High School won the Class 5A Speech and Debate state championship at Cherokee Trail High School, earning 126 points to secure the overall team title. This marks the school’s third championship in four years.
Cherry Creek finished second with 97 points after two days of competition among leading programs and individuals from across Colorado. Denver East, Pine Creek, and Kent Denver completed the top five in the overall standings.
Maryrose Kohan, head coach of George Washington and this year’s NFHS Outstanding Speech and Debate Educator, commented on her team’s achievement: “It’s the culmination of years of hard work from students who started as freshmen and worked four years to get here. Seeing the whole team and community come together like this just brings so much joy.”
In addition to winning the overall title, George Washington took home the Speech Sweepstakes team award. Cherry Creek earned the Debate Sweepstakes title.
Senior Naomi Nicholson from George Washington was a champion in Program Oral Interpretation. She said, “I love the people. I love competing. I don’t do a sport or anything—this is the thing I do. Seeing people from other schools every weekend, it’s just fun.”
Senior Ingrid Zuniga-Boyle contributed to George Washington’s strong performance in Policy Debate alongside partner Kamila Jenkins, helping their school secure the top four spots in that event. Zuniga-Boyle said, “It feels good… but for this, it feels good because my partner’s a junior. She still has another year left with debate.” She added, “It means a lot for us to win one of our last tournaments together and show so much improvement over the last three years.”
Their experiences highlight how success in speech and debate relies on effort, teamwork, and building connections throughout high school.
