Juan Diego CHS dominates Utah debate

Intermountain Catholic

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Gabe Lewis

Special to the Intermountain Catholic

DRAPER — For the second year in a row, the Juan Diego Catholic High School Debate Team can claim a 3A state championship victory. And this time around, Juan Diego won by a landslide.

Juan Diego’s team went deep into the final rounds of the tournament on March 10. Katherine McIntire and Andrew Katsohirakis made it to the final round in Extemporaneous Speaking. In this event, six to nine people are put in a group with one judge. They are allowed 20 minutes to prepare a speech on an assigned topic, then have to speak for 10 minutes about the topic, incorporating research they did prior to the tournament.

Juan Diego’s policy teams were also very successful. All four teams made it to the elimination rounds, with the team of Richard Idriss and Michael Chieco reaching the final round.

Juan Diego debate coach Josh Clark said this was the highest point total Juan Diego has ever received at a state competition.

"It’s a great accomplishment for the team and winning it was a really proud moment for me as a coach," Clark said. "We received 115 out of 125 possible points, beating rivals Snow Canyon and Juab by roughly 30 points."

Moses Baca, another Juan Diego coach, said the Soaring Eagle’s performance could not have been better, even though this year’s state team contained four novices, along with 13 seniors and eight others.

One of the novices was Winter Brailow, a freshman who competes in Congress style debate. At the state tournament, she received a superior ranking in her house category.

Brailow’s coaches say she is a natural Congress debater who has placed in the top five of several local tournaments this year.

"It was a really great opportunity to be able to debate with the best in the state," she said. "I hope to be able to go the next three years of my high school career."

Following the state win and other prestigious tournament titles, Juan Diego is preparing to send two policy debate teams to the "Tournament of Champions" in Kentucky in May. This is the first time Juan Diego was able to send two teams to this tournament, which features competition between the best teams in the U.S. Both coaches are very hopeful about Juan Diego’s performance.

The two policy teams going to the Tournament of Champions consist of juniors Ryan Keenan and Sean Williams and seniors Richard Idriss and Katie Roberts.

Keenan is captain of Juan Diego’s policy debate. Idriss, the debate president, won best speaker out of roughly 400 debaters at a tournament at University of California-Berkeley this season.

To qualify for the Tournament of Champions, a team has to have earned at least two bids, which can be gained from reaching a certain part of a qualifying tournament.

The Soaring Eagle debate team has achieved new records for the school this year in other competitions leading up to the state tournament. Not only did Juan Diego win the 3A state title, but the team also won the region competition in late February, taking first place in every single speech and debate event. Juan Diego ended with 139 points, Wasatch High School with 58 points, Park City High School with 39 points and Judge Memorial Catholic High School with 16 points.

Baca and Clark are looking to their young debaters to continue the team’s push for success in coming years.

Gabe Lewis is a freshman at Juan Diego Catholic High School.