Yapping the Way to 3X Region Champs

On February 22, 2025, the Juab Speech and Debate team became three-time region champions. The team won first place with 121 points, beating Manti by 12 points. The team has been preparing for region and state all year, attending tournaments throughout central Utah. This year’s region includes six schools: Emery, Manti, Canyon View, Richfield, North Sanpete, and Carbon.

Speech and Debate President Jayme Cragun commented about Region, saying, “I didn’t think we had a very good chance of winning region, which was really disheartening because of the time I felt I’d invested in helping people prepare. When we won, I knew that work, not only mine but everyone’s, had paid off. It was a really great feeling to know that I’d upheld my winning streak and that my contribution as a competitor and leader had made a difference.”

The team had four individual region champions with even more placements in the top five. The placements are as follows: Dramatic Interpretation: Anna Petersen 4th, Rory Allred 5th, Impromptu: Macee Ercanbrack 4th, Gabby Petersen 5th, Informative: Kirsten Coray 1st, Oratory: Jayme Cragun 2nd, Foreign Extemp: Liesel Kretchmer 1st, Melaina Bork 5th, National Extemp: Jacob Davis 1st, Ladd Holman 5th, Congress: Kenzee Slater 3rd, LD: Jayme Cragun 3rd, PF: Kirsten Coray & Jacob Davis 4th, Policy: Rory Allred & Melaina Bork 1st, Casen Hall & Taft Sherwood 3rd, Isabella Johnson & Alexis Navarro.

The team will next compete at 3A state at Ogden High School on March 14 and 15. Due to the team’s win, they will also be able to take a full team to state, around thirty entries.