PHS Speech brings home Founder Trophy from Catholic Nationals, ranked in top five

Sunday, June 8, 2025 at 11:00 PM

While most people were going to picnics or watching the Indianapolis 500, six members of the Plymouth High School Speech Team traveled to the Catholic National Speech Tournament in Chicago. The team used to compete in this tournament every year, but as costs increased, the tournament was dropped. This year, with the tournament being so close, they took a small contingent to the competition. Even though it was a small group, the team was awarded a Founders Trophy for placing in the top five of the speech tournament. A total of 428 schools entered the tournament, with an average of 150 participants in each event.

All six members of the team placed in the top 24 by making at least the quarterfinals. Senior Angelique Oviedo placed 24th doing her new drama that she will compete with at the NSDA National Tournament. It was a great way for her to get some experience with the new selection.

Sophomores Waylon Pitts and Junior Rylan James placed 17th with their Duo Interp. They were very close to making the semifinal, but felt great for doing this well at their first National Tournament.

Making the semi-finals and placing 7th were seniors Dariel Herrera-Rosales and Claire Lewandowski. The pair is one of the highest-rated duos in the United States and just fell short of making the finals. The duo received 16 first-place rankings out of their 21 judges.

Junior Olivia Burch made her first national final round and nearly walked away with a championship by placing 2nd. The five final round judges ranked her just 2 points shy of the champion.

The team is confident that they can compete at a national level, and this tournament just confirmed it. They leave in mid-June for Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the NSDA National Tournament. The team will be traveling in a charter bus thanks to their corporate sponsor, John Oliver, and US Granules.