A duo from MSU Debate reached the Sweet Sixteen at the Harvard College Tournament last weekend. Henry Martin and Stephen Lewis reached the octafinals after winning six of their eight preliminary debates.
Martin – a second-year physics and philosophy student in the Honors College – and Lewis – a fourth-year social relations and policy major – defeated teams from Northwestern University, the University of Texas, the University of Kansas, and Western Kentucky University in their preliminary debates to enter the elimination round bracket as the thirteenth seed.
Martin and Lewis defeated a team from George Mason University in the double-octafinals before being narrowly bested in the Sweet Sixteen by a team from the University of Michigan. Lewis was also named the tournament’s fifteenth overall speaker from a field of over 100.
“This was a solid tournament performance for Henry and Stephen,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate Head Coach. “They had strong results in preliminary rounds and that set them up to advance in elimination debates.”
The first-year duo of Artie Kincaid – a communicative sciences and disorders major – and Neel Patel – an international relations and economics major – also qualified for elimination debates based on their strong record in preliminary rounds.
Kincaid and Patel bested teams from the University of Southern California, Northwestern University, Kansas State University, the University of Texas, and the University of Kansas in preliminary rounds.
“Having a pair of first-year debaters in the elimination rounds is a great development for the team,” said Kevin McCaffrey, MSU Debate Assistant Coach. “Artie and Neel have been debating well and improving all year, so it was great to see that work pay off.”
MSU was also represented at the Northwestern tournament by Cameron Buhl (social relations and policy), Will Sterbenc (social relations and policy), Isabella Foster (philosophy), and Addison Morris (philosophy) in the open division. Balin Kimbrell (mathematics) and Dame DeMaria (political theory and constitutional democracy) competed in the junior varsity division.
The Harvard College Tournament is the penultimate tournament in the fall semester. MSU Debate will finish the fall season at the Franklin R. Shirley Tournament hosted by Wake Forest University in mid-November.