Speech and Debate Team Shines At Warrior Showdown

Lincoln, Mass. — The train known as the Catholic Memorial Speech and Debate team is still rolling along following another huge performance at one of the more significant competitions on the speech and debate schedule.

Walking away with nearly two dozen top-five finishes and a literal box of trophies, CM won the Lincoln-Sudbury Warrior Showdown for the second year in a row. The win was the team’s second in as many in-state competitions this year, with the first coming at the Revere Fall Fest Speech Tournament.

CM earned four first-place finishes, with trophies going to Johnny Cardarelli ‘23 in Children’s Literature, Pat Blomberg ‘24 and Will Cummings ‘23 in Duo Interpretation, Jack Judge ‘25 in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking, and Sam Cahill Farella ‘23 in Radio. 

Coming in second place were Andrew Schwerdt ‘26 in Declamation, Cummings in Prose, Declan Gilmartin ‘23 in Play Reading, Jinzhou Wu ‘24 in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking, and Owen Galvin ‘24 in Informative Speaking.

Third place finishes went to Gustas Bernard '25 in Children’s Literature, Owen Crowley ‘25 in Declamation, Chris Bonsel ‘24 in Dramatic Performance, Bonsel and Alex Pappas ‘24 in Duo Interpretation, Joseph Cutting ‘23 in Extemporaneous Speaking, Timothy Elrod ‘24 in Group Discussion, Crowley in Declamation, Gustas Bernard ‘25 in Children’s Literature, Bonsel in Dramatic Performance, Joseph Cutting ‘23 in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Michael Schwerdt ‘23 in Impromptu Speaking.

Other contributions included a medal for Aidan Dever ‘23 in Group Discussion, honors for Brendan Jolley in Oratory, a finals appearance for Aaron Crowley ‘23 in Play Reading, and a finals appearance for Sam Gonser ‘24 in Congress.

The next competition for the team is the Holly Festival at Natick High School.