Bellarmine’s distinguished Speech & Debate team has closed out another historic season! In May, the team claimed first place in overall sweepstakes at the 2025 California State Championship for the fourth consecutive year. Then in June, the team defended its first-place title for the fifth year in a row at the National Speech & Debate Association Tournament – with two Bells claiming individual championship titles!
At States, despite entering the tournament as underdogs to Archbishop Mitty and James Logan, the Bells demonstrated that, in the words of head coach Aaron Langerman ’11, “Depth, not breadth, is what really matters in a competition like this.” Bellarmine tallied 136 total points, outpacing Mitty’s 97 and third-place Gabrielino’s 87, to secure its largest margin of victory in years.
Among the highlights was a complete finals sweep in Policy Debate, with Bellarmine teams claiming all three top spots. Juniors Aidan Okyar and Kevin Lu, Derek Qian and Arthur Tu, and sophomores Andres Ryan and Aaron He were named co-champions. Notably, Derek and Arthur were last-minute additions to the tournament after receiving an 11th-hour call-up from the alternate list. They raced to the airport, landed in Los Angeles just in time, and ended the weekend as state champions!
Other standout performances at States included Vincent Nguyen ’25, who took first place in Congressional Debate, and Neil Alappatt ’26, who was crowned champion in International Extemp. In total, Bellarmine placed students in the top ranks across nearly every event, with additional top finishes in Lincoln Douglas, Parliamentary, and Public Forum debate, as well as in a wide range of individual speech categories.
At Nationals, the Bells scored a total of 204 points – nearly 50 points higher than the next-highest scoring school – proving to be a powerhouse of scholars, speakers, and leaders! Again, Bellarmine had podium finishes across nearly every event.
The team received the School of Outstanding Distinction Award and, for the first time in Bellarmine history, had two finalists in Original Oratory: Angad Singh ’25 (1st) and Oliver Chen ’25 (4th). The school had another national champion in Elliott Barringer ’26, who took first place in Lincoln Douglas Debate!
Congratulations to the entire Speech & Debate team on its best year yet. Go Bells!