The Michigan State University debate team will compete in 10 tournaments across the country as part of its 2014-15 season.
This year, the debate team consists of 22 undergraduate students coached by Will Repko, one of the longest-serving college debate coaches in the country.
The team is led by four students: Tyler Thur, an Honors College member and international relations junior, and his partner, Margaret Strong, a math junior, along with Jack Caporal, an international relations senior, and his partner, Quinn Zemel, international relations senior.
Last year, Thur led MSU Debate to a top 16 finish at the National Debate Tournament.
This year, Thur and Strong have already been recognized nationally, receiving an invitation to the University of Kentucky Round Robin in October. The Round Robin invites the top nine, two-person teams in the country.
The list of other schools represented at the Round Robin include: the University of California-Berkeley, Georgetown University, Harvard University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas and Wake Forest University.
Additional team pairings for the season include:
• Darcell Brown (political science sophomore)/Jonass Placitis (social relations and policy sophomore)
• Sean Lavelle (political science/pre-law freshman)/Connor Munsinger (Honors College, computer science sophomore)
• Shannon Nierman (education junior)/Shannon Fagan (Honors College, social relations and policy sophomore)
• Lizzie Prete (James Madison undecided freshman)/Breana Brill (political science freshman)
• Briana Lewis (James Madison undecided freshman)/Linda Lay (Honors College, biosystems engineering junior)
• Nicolas Keywork (Honors College, international relations senior)/ Alex Friedman (Honors College, mechanical engineering junior)
• Sohela Suri (James Madison undecided sophomore)/Wayne Campbell (accounting freshman)
• Sagar Rathod (human biology and neuroscience freshman)/Naya Henderson (Lyman Briggs undecided freshman)
The first competition of the season begins Saturday.
“We’re looking forward to the start of the debate tournament season and competing against the best teams in the country,” Repko said.
The full schedule is below:
• Georgia State University, Sept. 20-23
• University of Kentucky (including Round Robin), Sept. 30-Oct. 2
• Harvard University, Oct. 24-28
• Wake Forest University, Nov. 14-18
• University of Southern California, Jan. 3-5, 2015
• CSU Fullerton, Jan. 7-9
• Navy, Jan. 16-20
• Indiana University, Jan. 30-Feb. 1
• Northwestern University, Feb. 6-10
The National Debate Tournament is scheduled for the University of Iowa in Iowa City April 1-6.
The MSU debate team is a part of the Honors College.