By Carly Watson
Michigan State University Debate competed at two different tournaments last weekend – an invitation-only tournament hosted by Rutgers University-Newark and the Hoosier Invitational hosted by Indiana University.
At the Hoosier Invitational, MSU Debate reached the semifinals in the Junior Varsity (JV) division and the octafinals of the Open division.
Ephraim Bennett, a computer science sophomore, and David Koster, a political science pre-law and economics junior in the Honors College, bested teams from Northwestern University, Wake Forest University, Wichita State University, and Western Washington University to reach the Sweet 16 of the Open division.
Tyler Buck and Aadit Agrahara, both political theory and constitutional democracy freshmen, reached the Final Four of the JV division with wins over the University of Kansas, the University of Wyoming, St. Mary’s College, Wayne State University, and Wichita State University.
The Hoosier Invitational welcomed over 75 teams across three divisions from all over the country.
“The Indiana University tournament was the largest I can ever remember it being this year and MSU being so competitive in two divisions is a huge accomplishment,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate Head Coach.
MSU was also represented at the Hoosier Invitational by Mitchell Scott, an economics junior, Arielle Gearring, a political theory and constitutional democracy freshman, Glen Scully, a computer science freshman, Miaomiao Zi, an interdisciplinary humanities freshman in the Honors College, and Wajeeha Kamal, a political theory and constitutional democracy and journalism junior in the Honors College.
While many students were competing at the University of Indiana tournament, MSU Debate had one team competing at the Brick City Round Robin hosted by Rutgers University-Newark.
Piper Meloche, a social relations and policy senior in the Honors College, and Nate Glancy, an economics senior, represented MSU at the round robin – an invitation-only tournament for twelve of the top teams in the country – and had wins over Binghamton University and the University of Kansas.
“It was a busy weekend but at both tournaments we had some great wins as we approach the end of the regular season,” said Kevin McCaffrey, MSU Debate Assistant Coach.
MSU Debate will compete next at the Texas Open tournament hosted by the University of Texas the weekend of February 4-6, 2023.
The MSU Debate team is part of the Honors College.