By Carly Watson
Michigan State University Debate had two teams reach elimination rounds at the Georgetown University Tournament.
Nate Glancy, an economics senior, and Piper Meloche, a social relations and policy senior in the Honors College, reached the double octofinals after defeating teams from Georgetown University, Dartmouth College, Emory University, and the University of California, Berkeley in preliminary debates.
Joanna Gusis, a political theory and constitutional democracy major in the Honors College, and Tony Miklovis, a social relations and policy and international relations sophomore in the Honors College, racked up over against Northwestern University, the University of Southern California, Purdue University, Wake Forest University, and the University of Minnesota to reach the double octofinals.
“We had a challenging draw in preliminary debates at this tournament but both teams had some great wins to qualify for elimination debates,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate Head Debate Coach.
Based on preliminary round results, the top 32 teams at the tournament were seeded into a single elimination bracket. Glancy and Meloche entered elimination debates as the 17 overall seed and Gusis and Miklovis were seeded 26.
In close double octofinals debates, Glancy and Meloche were bested by a team from the University of Kansas and Gusis and Miklovis were defeated by a team from Emory University that went on to be finalists at the tournament.
“Our students were debating well at Georgetown and it shows in the results. This tournament had eight preliminary debates so you really have to stay focused to qualify for elimination rounds,” said Repko.”
The MSU Debate Team returned to campus over winter break to prepare for the tournament and debaters spent several days practicing before departing for the tournament.
“The preparation process for this tournament is important because this stretch what sets us up for the rest of the spring semester,” said Kevin McCaffrey, MSU Debate Assistant Coach.
MSU Debate will compete next the University of Rutgers-Newark round robin later this month.
The MSU Debate team is part of the Honors College.