Debate team places high at two tournaments, looks ahead

January 5, 2005 - MSU’s debate team members recently finished two of the toughest debate tournaments of the year, placing fifth in both of them.

The first was the annual Harvard University tournament, held in Cambridge, Mass., in early November. The second was the Wake Forest University tournament, held in Winston-Salem, N.C., in late November.

The top team for MSU at the Harvard Tournament was Aaron Hardy, an interdisciplinary arts and humanities senior from Logan, Utah, and Shaun Vanhorn, a biology major from Sterling Heights.

After preliminary debates, Hardy and Vanhorn were the eighth seed before defeating the University of Texas in the Sweet Sixteen, but falling to Northwestern University in the quarterfinals. The team of juniors Ryan Burke, a James Madison student from Rochester Hills, and Casey Harrigan, a James Madison student from Holland, also advanced to the Sweet Sixteen after winning five of their preliminary debates.

“Hardy and Vanhorn have been in the quarters of every major tournament this year,” said Mike Eber, director of debate at MSU. “All of the coaches knew Burke and Harrigan were good, but to have them consistently do well is a real accomplishment.”

At the Wake Forest tournament, Hardy and Vanhorn again made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Emory University in a close 2-1 decision. The Wake Forest tournament is one of the largest and most competitive tournaments of the entire year, with nearly 300 debaters from dozens of colleges and universities in attendance. Despite losing to stiff competition in the round prior to the Sweet Sixteen, Burke received a top-level speaking award, placing seventh among the hundreds of debaters.

“Most of these debaters are seniors,” Eber said, “so this award is a major accomplishment.”

The debate team will have little time off with their spring semester debates beginning in late December when the team heads to the University of Southern California and Cal State-Fullerton for tournaments before and after the new year.

“Going into second semester, the team has moved up its expectations,” Eber said. “We would like to be in the Final Four of every tournament from now on.”