Lucky No. 7: Mooney’s speech team wins state title

Lucky No. 7: Mooney’s speech team wins state title

The team also recently qualified 10 members for national competition in June.

YOUNGSTOWN — The members of the Cardinal Mooney Speech Team know what they are talking about.

They proved it by taking the recent state team speech title in competition at Medina High School.

The victory marked the seventh state team championship for Mooney and the first under the leadership of current forensics director Matt Critell.

Five Mooney entries made the final round of competition and secured sufficient points as they advanced through the competition to win the team title.

The students agreed that spending long hours in practice and most of their Saturdays participating in speech tournaments has paid off.

Jeremy Frazer, a senior and three-year member of the team, and Michael Lynch, a junior with three years on the team, won an individual state title in Duo Interpretation while Stephanie Pallai and Paul Sauline, both seniors with three and four years on the team, respectively, came in with state runner-up honors in the same category.

Theresa Hanna, a senior and three-year team member, placed third in International Extemporaneous while Zachary Christoff, a senior with three years on the team, placed fourth in that same category.

Michelle Awad, a freshman in her first year with the team, was Mooney’s fifth state finalist, placing fourth in Oratorical Interpretation.

Before the state tournament, Mooney qualified 10 speakers for the national tournament during the Northern Ohio National Forensic League District Tournament held at Ursuline High School.

That’s an unprecedented number, said Paul Gregory, school spokesman, noting that schools rarely get more than three or four speakers to advance to national competition.

This year’s National Forensic League tournament will be held in Las Vegas from June 15-21.

Three Mooney entries won district championships at the Ursuline event.

Brianna Lockett won in Original Oratory, Hanna won in International Extemporaneous and the team of Monica Scarsella and Kelly McGuire won in Duo Interpretation.

Christoff took district runner-up in International Extemporaneous while the team of Pauline Sauline and Pallai were district runner-up in Duo Interpretation. Robert Warchol took district third place in U.S. Extemporaneous while the team of Frazer and Lynch took third in district Duo Interpretation.