MSU Debate reached the Sweet Sixteen at the Owen L. Coon Memorial Debate Tournament at Northwestern University this past weekend.
Joanna Gusis, a Statistics and Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy senior in the Honors College, and Stephen Lewis, a Social Relations and Policy junior, reached the octafinals (Sweet Sixteen) after a dominating performance in preliminary debates. 
They entered the elimination rounds as the tournament’s second seed after wins over the University of Michigan, Emory University, Northwestern University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Missouri in the preliminary debates.
Gusis and Lewis defeated a team from Wake Forest University in the double-octafinals before being narrowly bested in the Sweet Sixteen.
“These students have been preparing all summer for the first tournament of the year,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate Head Coach. “Their performance is truly a testament to how hard they’ve worked and how ready they were.”
In addition to their impressive team results, Gusis and Lewis were also recognized for the strength of their individual performances. Lewis was the tournament’s tenth overall speaker and Gusis was second.
“Because it’s a direct comparison against hundreds of their peers at other universities, two top ten speaker awards demonstrate that Joanna and Stephen were debating really well,” said Repko.
Gusis and Lewis enter the 2025-2026 season after an impressive performance last season. They were ranked eighth overall in recognition of their season-long success after placing third at the 2024 Kentucky Thoroughbred Round Robin and reaching the semifinals at the 2025 Georgetown Tournament.
MSU was also represented at the Northwestern tournament by Glen Scully, a computer science senior, Zaria Jarman, a Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy junior, Arielle Gearring, a Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy senior, Hina Shehzad, an International Relations junior, Henry Martin, a physics and philosophy freshman in the Honors College, and Isabella Foster, a philosophy and film freshman in the Honors College.
The Owen L. Coon Memorial Debate Tournament is the first tournament of MSU Debate’s season. The team will debate next at the JW Patterson Debates hosted by the University of Kentucky in two weeks.
The MSU Debate team is part of the Honors College.