Michigan State University Debate reached elimination debates at the Jesuit Debates hosted by Gonzaga University last weekend.
Tony Miklovis, a social relations and policy and international relations sophomore, and Joanna Gusis, a political theory and constitutional democracy freshman, reached the double octafinals after besting teams from the University of Minnesota, Emory University, Western Washington University, and University of Texas at Dallas.
In their double octafinals debate, Miklovis and Gusis lost a close debate to Kansas University. Elimination rounds are judged by a panel of three judges and the round was decided on a narrow 2-1 decision.
Miklovis and Gusis, both members of the Honors College, were one of a handful of teams in elimination debates represented only by underclassman.
“Tony and Joanna’s results are exciting,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate Head Coach. “They debated a lot of great teams at the tournament and were still able to reach elimination debates so they’re debating well.”
The team of Piper Meloche, a social relations and policy senior in the Honors College, and Nate Glancy, an economics senior, also competed at the tournament and had wins over the University of Southern California, Kansas State University, and Georgetown University.
This is the first time MSU Debate has competed at the Jesuit Debates in person since 2018. The team traveled to Spokane, Washington to compete against almost 100 teams from all over the country. The Jesuit Debates were a hybrid tournament so some teams competed online and some were in person.
“Being able to blend travel and online tournaments has been great,” said Kevin McCaffrey MSU Debate Assistant Coach. “We were able to compete at Wayne State online and then travel to Gonzaga so it’s really the best of both worlds.”
MSU Debate only has one competitive tournament left in the fall semester. The team will compete online at a tournament hosted by Wake Forest University the weekend of November 12.
The MSU Debate team is part of the Honors College.