MSU Debate competed in back-to-back tournaments hosted by the University of Kentucky last week and had big results to show for their time in the Bluegrass State.
The first tournament was the Kentucky Thoroughbred Round Robin – an invitation-only tournament for seven of the top teams in the country. Henry Martin and Stephen Lewis were invited in recognition of their strong results in the 2025-2026 season.
Martin– a second-year physics and philosophy student in the Honors College – and Lewis– a fourth-year social relations and policy major – were joined at the round robin by teams from Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan, Emory University, the University of Kansas, the University of Kentucky, and California State University, Long Beach.
“Being invited to the round robin puts us on a short list with the very best teams in the country,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate Head Coach. “Because everyone knows their opponents in advance, each round is closely contested, and it has some of our most challenging debates of the year.”
After the round robin, the University of Kentucky hosted the JW Patterson Debates where MSU Debate had five teams competing in the open division and one team in the junior varsity division.
Martin and Lewis finished as double octafinalists at the JW Patterson Debates after entering the elimination rounds bracket as the sixth overall seed out of 125 entries. They bested teams from the University of Kansas, Northwestern University, George Mason University, and the University of Central Oklahoma in preliminary debates. Martin and Lewis also received speaker awards – Martin was the fourteenth overall speaker and Lewis was sixth.
Zaria Jarman – a fourth-year political theory and constitutional democracy major – and Hina Shehzad – an international relations major in her fourth year – also qualified for elimination debates and finished the tournament as double octafinalists. Jarman and Shehzad had wins over teams from Harvard University, Emory University, Baylor University, and the University of Texas.
“It was tough to lose two competitive rounds in the double octafinals, but the tournament as a whole was a success because we were debating well and had great wins along the way,” said Kevin McCaffrey, MSU Debate Assistant Coach.
In the junior varsity division, Balin Kimbrell – a first-year mathematics student – and Jack Humphrey – a first-year student studying secondary education – reached the quarterfinals (Elite Eight) from a field of twenty-six. Humphrey was the fourth overall speaker in the junior varsity division and Kimbrell was twelfth.
“These are some of Balin and Jack’s first ever college debates as a pair so it’s a result to be really proud of,” said Repko. “They’ve been working hard so making it to the quarterfinals reflects that.”
MSU was also represented in the open division at the tournament by Artie Kincaid (communicative sciences and disorders), Neel Patel (international relations and economics), Cameron Buhl (social relations and policy), Will Sterbenc (social relations and policy), Isabella Foster (philosophy), and Addison Morris (philosophy).
The JW Patterson Debates are the second open tournament of MSU Debate’s season. In two weeks, the team will compete online at a tournament hosted by the University of Minnesota.
MSU Debate is part of the Honors College.