MSU DEBATE TEAM RINGS IN NEW YEAR WITH ACCOLADES AT THREE TOURNAMENTS

1/22/2003

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University's debate team has been busy racking up successes in the opening weeks of 2003, bringing home a series of top awards from three major tournaments.

MSU teams and individual debaters earned the awards, including second-place team, third-place team and top individual speaker honors. In two of the tournaments MSU was the top seed advancing into the elimination rounds.

MSU's team of Greta Stahl, a history and international relations junior from Shelby Township, and Dave Strauss, an international relations junior from East Lansing, had a perfect record of 8-0 in the preliminary debates, earning them the honor of the top seed going into elimination rounds at the University of Southern California (USC) tournament Dec. 29-Jan. 1.

In elimination debates, Stahl and Strauss advanced into the final round of the tournament with an 11-0 record before losing on a 2-1 decision. Both received top 10 individual speaker awards at the tournament.

The MSU team of Calum Matheson, a social relations senior, and Joe Siegmann, an international relations and political economy senior, both from East Lansing, also had strong finishes at USC. They were the seventh overall seed going into elimination rounds and advanced to the quarterfinals. Matheson was the top individual speaker of the tournament, adding another trophy to his collection.

"Our team works incredibly hard and deserves recognition as an amazingly talented and bright group of students," said Michael Eber, interim director of debate. "Our debaters thrive on the intensity of the tournament competition against the very best in the country."

On Jan. 2, the team competed in a tournament at California State University at Fullerton, Calif. MSU had five teams in the top 32 as several of the younger MSU squads advanced into the elimination rounds.

The three teams were the James Madison College freshman duo of Elizabeth Deluca of Gaylord and Ryan Burke of Bloomfield Hills; Anjali Vats, a psychology and international relations senior from Bloomfield Hills, and Aaron Hardy, an interdisciplinary arts and humanities junior from Logan, Utah; and Margaret Ryan, an international relations and political theory and constitutional democracy junior from East Grand Rapids, and Casey Harrigan, a James Madison freshman from Holland.

In addition, Stahl and Strauss were the fifth overall seed going into the elimination rounds, where they advanced to a "final four" appearance. In the semi-final debate they again lost another 2-1 decision.

Matheson and Siegmann were the eighth overall seed going into elimination debates, where they advanced into the quarterfinals. In this tournament, Matheson was recognized as the second individual speaker, Strauss was eighth and Stahl placed 15th.

The team debated at the State College of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga., from Jan. 11-13. MSU took only one team to West Georgia, where Stahl and Strauss had another strong performance with a 7-1 record in the preliminary debates and were again recognized as the top seed going into the elimination rounds.

Stahl and Strauss advanced into the "sweet 16" before losing a third 2-1 decision to a team from the University of Georgia, which won the tournament. Overall, Stahl was awarded the fifth-place individual speaker award and Strauss was 15th.

"By the end of this long stretch of winter tournaments, our top two debate teams have accumulated a list of wins that is stunning in its depth and level of accomplishment," Eber said. "Dave and Greta's consecutive high finishes have secured their reputation as a top-level team capable of beating any debate team in the country."

Next up for the MSU debaters is the Dartmouth Round Robin, a prestigious tournament held in Hanover, N.H., each year where the nine best debate teams in the country are invited to compete. MSU will be represented by Stahl and Strauss and will be coached by Will Repko, head coach, and Michael Eber, interim director of debate.