Thursday, March 28, 2024

Debaters take first-place honors in tourney

Pair finds living together assists in keeping top spot

October 17, 2001
Debaters international relations senior Austin Carson and social relations and history junior Calum Matheson won the Kentucky Round-Robin Tournament at the University of Kentucky earlier this month, beating out eight other teams including Dartmouth College and Northwestern University. Next, the two and the rest of the debate team will head to the Harvard Invitational at the end of the month. —

Calum Matheson and Austin Carson are roommates.

They’re also the best two-person college debate team in the nation.

This MSU Debate Team duo brought home top honors in a tournament hosted by the University of Kentucky earlier this month - the first time MSU’s top two-person team has won.

The pair met when they were recruited by MSU. Both agree living together has been beneficial.

“Half the time we’re researching or preparing for the topics and (at home) it’s a great time to get away,” said Carson, an international relations senior.

The tournament’s topic was how the U.S. government should increase control of various areas of Native American land. The topic will be used at other competitions throughout the year.

Matheson, a social relations and history junior, said many issues about the topic will be debated.

“When we got the topic, we just hit the stacks at the library,” Carson said.

Besides the knowledge needed to debate, the team also has to deal with fatigue.

Each debate round lasts two hours and Carson and Matheson competed in four or five a day.

Matheson said even though they have two hours, contestants still have to choose words correctly.

“When you’re winning, it’s easy but if you’re losing, it can get pretty violent,” he said. “We are college students and we do use vulgarity.”

In the end, MSU also brought home the best individual speaker - Matheson.

MSU Debate Team coach Jason Trice called the duo’s performance tremendous, but he’s also impressed by his team’s depth.

International relations sophomore Greta Stahl and and no-preference sophomore David Strauss reached the semifinals.

“We’ve never had a team go that far before and with (Matheson and Austin’s performance), it speaks to the strength and depth of this team,” Trice said.

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