Community Education

Gig Harbor speech and debate team tops all Class 3A teams at state

Washington state held its first all-classification, combined state speech and debate tournament March 19 through 21 at the University of Puget Sound.   

After a grueling three days of competition, the Gig Harbor High School speech and debate team emerged as the top Class 3A team in the tournament. The team finished just a few overall points behind Class 4A Newport, tying with Newport in the speech completion.

Historically, the state tournament has been divided into a 4A and 3A divisions, using the same classifcations as athletics. This year, all the students competed together, although teams still won awards by classification.

Debate team President Autumn Coovert and Vice President Elise Hill led the Tides. Coovert won the state championship in Programmed Oral Interpretation and placed second in Dramatic Interpretation.

The Gig Harbor High School speech and debate team after competing at state. Photo courtesy Chris Coovert

Coovert also won the Eric Helppie Award, given each year to the senior who made the largest contribution to their team and the wider speech and debate community.  

Hill placed second in Informative Speaking and third in Original Oratory. She joined with teammates Alaia Washington, Ally Dehope, Lana Vicente and Gabi Kurtz to place second in Worlds Debate. Seven other Tides earned points and trophies.

“Autumn and Elise have been amazing competitors for four years. They set a great example for the young students, and it was exciting to see them have such a great final state tournament,” coach Chris Coovert said.

The Tides placed second in overall sweeps, second in speech sweeps and first in AAA sweeps.

Four members of the team will compete in the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Minnesota in May. In June, six will compete in the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Richmond, Virginia. 

Other state award winners from Gig Harbor were:  

• Mia Colombo, third place Congressional and first place Presiding Officer  

• Ashley Carman, third place, Humorous Interpretation  

• Ella Rodriguez and Rae Fabroquez, third place Duo Interpretation 

• Ashley Carman and Bella Ray, fourth place, Duo Interpretation  

• Alaia Washington, fifth place, Dramatic Interpretation  

• Semifinalists were Bella Ray (Humorous Interpretation), Emma Pankop (Humorous Interpretation) and Kendra Smith (Program Oral Interpretation).