MSU Debate had two teams in the Sweet 16 at the Texas Open Debate Tournament this past weekend after qualifying three teams for elimination debates.

Tony Miklovis, an International Relations and Social Relations and Policy senior in the Honors College, Blaine Montford, a Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy sophomore in the Honors College, Joanna Gusis, a Statistics and Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy junior in the Honors College, Stephen Lewis, a Social Relations and Policy sophomore, Zaria Jarman, a Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy sophomore and Glen Scully, a Computer Science junior, all qualified for elimination debates at the largest regular-season tournament of the spring semester.

“Having three teams in elimination debates is a huge accomplishment for the program,” said Will Repko, MSU Debate head coach. “It was a challenging field with teams from all over the country so having so much representation in elimination rounds from MSU speaks volumes about the depth of the program.”

Miklovis and Montford qualified for elimination debates as the tenth seed after besting teams from the University of Michigan, the University of Kansas, the University of Houston, Wake Forest University, and the University of West Georgia. In elimination debates, Miklovis and Montford bested a team from Emory University to reach the Sweet 16 where they ultimately lost to a team from Macalester College.

Gusis and Lewis qualified for elimination debates as the eleventh seed after defeating teams from the University of Kentucky, the University of Kansas, the University of Houston, the University of Texas Austin and Wake Forest University. Gusis and Lewis defeated a team from the University of Kansas in the double octafinals (Round of 32) before being narrowly bested by a team from Dartmouth College in the Sweet 16.

Jarman and Scully defeated teams from Harvard College, New York University, Georgetown University, James Madison University and the University of West Georgia in their eight preliminary debates before being narrowly outmatched in the double octafinals.

“We faced a lot of challenging opponents and the team has a lot of wins to be proud of,” said Repko.

At the conclusion of the preliminary debates, the tournament also recognized individual speakers based on points awarded by judges. Out of over two hundred participants, Montford was the 26th overall speaker, Miklovis was 25th, Gusis was 24th, and Lewis was 23rd.

“The Texas tournament has the most entries of any tournament in the spring semester. Having four students in the top thirty speakers in such a large pool shows how well they were debating,” said Jasmine Stidham, MSU Debate assistant coach.

Hina Shehzad, an International Relations sophomore, and Ephraim Bennett, a computer science senior, had the requisite number of preliminary round wins to reach elimination debates, but narrowly missed qualifying for elimination rounds.

MSU Debate was also represented at the Texas Open Tournament by Arielle Gearring, a Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy junior and Aadit Agrahara, a Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy senior who finished the tournament with wins over Emory University, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University.

“This was a wonderful tournament for MSU to end the regular season and we were able to build momentum as we prepare for the postseason and national championships,” said Repko.