The Sulphur Springs High School brought home the 2026 University Interscholastic League 4A Academic State Championship this past week competing at the University of Texas in Austin.
Elizabeth Green was awarded state champion for theatrical design. Her coach was Hagen Hunt.
Nathan Bilyeu placed second in poetry interpretation, and was coached by Lesha Woodard.
For the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Contest, Green placed second, followed by Lindsey Hayes in third, Isabella Chamness in fourth, Oakley Weiss in fifth, and Ethan Preas also being a finalist.
The spelling team was awarded the state champions. Brooks Burgin was the individual state champion, Abigail Bautista placed second, Charlie Knechtel and Kimberly Negrete tied for fifth.
The social studies team was named the state champion team. Grayson Wall was awarded second place, Jessica Reed placed fourth, Kannon Gibson placed fifth and Isaac Stanley also competed.
The journalism team was awarded the state champion title. In news writing, Reed placed fourth; Anderson Grimes placed sixth in feature writing and second in headline writing; Bautista was the state champion in editorial writing; and in copy editing, Justin Chen placed second and Bautista placed third.
For current issues and events, Bautista was awarded second place, followed by Jason Prom in sixth, Chen and James “Mac” Mc-Coy were also team members.
Reed was named the state champion for ready writing.
In literary criticism, Anthony Small was awarded the state champion title. Julie Ann McCoy, Burgin and Dylan McKinney were also team members and they got second place team. Gail Herman was the coach for the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Contest, spelling and literary criticism teams. Madison Millsap coached social studies, along with current issues and event, and both coached the journalism team.