Godley High School students delivered an outstanding performance across University Interscholastic League academic and speech events, highlighted by a district championship at the UIL District 12 speech tournament and multiple regional qualifiers from the UIL academic meet.

At the district speech tournament, held April 2, 2026, at Hillsboro High School, the Godley debate team captured the district championship with 164 points, finishing well ahead of the field.

Godley also finished as UIL academic runner-up March 24 at Alvarado High School, falling just six points short of first place in the combined standings that include UIL academics, CX debate, Congress, speech, robotics and one-act play. At the UIL academic meet, Godley also placed second overall in journalism.

“They put in unbelievable hours practicing, and it’s great to see their hard work pay off,” said Jeff Hughes, speech and debate coach and UIL academic coordinator.

UIL Speech Tournament Results

(Asterisk denotes regional qualifier)

• Informative speaking: AJ Garcia-Robles (second)*; Ava Jackson (fourth); Mason Vallejo (fifth)
• Lincoln-Douglas debate: Emma Lindamood (first)*, Reagan Brooks (second)*, Taylor Bain (third)*
• Persuasive speaking: Brett Fancher (first)*, Kori Iglehart (second)*; Kason Beck (fifth)
• Poetry interpretation: Trynity Lively (second)*; Ava Jackson (fourth)
• Prose interpretation: AJ Garcia-Robles (fourth)*; Lesley Rodriguez (sixth); Katie Ponce (eighth)

In addition to speech and debate success, Godley students also excelled in academic events, earning multiple honors and advancing 17 students to the regional competition.

“This is the most students that we have advanced in my memory at GHS, and I couldn't be more proud of them,” Hughes said.

UIL Academic Meet Results

(Asterisk denotes regional qualifier)

Individual results

• Accounting: Adam Pempsell (first)*; Jardiel Jimenez (third)*; Kyle Black (seventh)
• Calculator applications: Austin Merritt (fourth)
• Computer science: Ikpemhi Alugbe (sixth), William Nordren (sixth), Saul Baez Matellanes (eighth)
• Current issues and events: Lathyn Ashley (fourth), Brett Fancher (fifth), Aiden Hart (eighth), Jake Phillips (ninth)
• Editorial: West Farley (second)*; Ava Jackson (third)*; Kori Iglehart (fifth)
• Feature writing: Naimah Ahumada (third)*
• Headline writing: Isaac Christensen (first)*; Ava Jackson (fifth), Isabella Salmeron (sixth)
• Literary criticism: Reagan Brooks (third)*; Kori Iglehart (fourth), Emma Lindamood (seventh)
• Mathematics: Saul Baez Matellanes (fourth), AJ Garcia-Robles (fifth), Ikpemhi Alugbe (seventh)
• News writing: Isaac Christensen (fourth), Isabella Salmeron (fifth)
• Number sense: Blake Weeg (third)*
• Ready writing: Reagan Brooks (first)*
• Spelling: John Gillard (third)*

Team results

• Accounting (first place)*: Kyle Black, Lila Heiner, Jardiel Jimenez, Adam Pempsell
• Current issues and events (second place): Lathyn Ashley, Brett Fancher, Aiden Hart, Jake Phillips
• Literary criticism (second place): Reagan Brooks, Kori Iglehart, Emma Lindamood, Vianney Martinez Villicana
• Mathematics (third place): Ikpemhi Alugbe, Saul Baez Matellanes, AJ Garcia-Robles, Azul Sanchez, Gabriella Ware
• Number sense (fifth place): Blake Weeg, Saul Baez Matellanes, Azul Sanchez, Kinzie Riney
• Science (fifth place): Marisa Coggin, Azul Sanchez, Kason Shepard-Polson, Blake Weeg
• Spelling (third place): John Gillard, Camila Jasso, Danna Castillo, Nightly James

The UIL Region II academic and speech meet will be held Apr. 24-25 at East Texas A&M University in Commerce.