MBA Debate accomplishes historic feats against nation's elites

MBA Debate has returned from Dallas with an impressive haul of hardware! Big Red teams traveled to the Lone Star State last week for the prestigious Greenhill Round Robin and Invitational, which drew many of the nation’s top debaters.

In the Round Robin—featuring the top 14 preseason-ranked teams—MBA fielded two groups for only the third time in team history. The top pairings of Russell Howard & Jimmy Li and Oliver Johnston & Res Seibels each dominated their respective pods and met in the final round, a feat previously accomplished only once before in 2017, also by MBA. Howard earned the Top Speaker award of the Round Robin, but the Big Red’s success didn’t stop there.

Following the Round Robin, 100 teams from 23 states and Taipei competed in the Invitational from Saturday through Monday. Once again, MBA emerged on top, with Howard/Li and Johnston/Seibels closing out the tournament by meeting each other in the final round. Fox Travis & Enno Brandes also impressed, finishing as quarterfinalists, while Will Fulwider & Tate Roh competed strongly as a team. This time, Seibels earned Top Speaker honors, while Howard placed fifth out of 200 competitors.

This marks the first time in the Invitational’s history that one school has closed out the final round, and the first time any team has closed out both the Round Robin and the Invitational in the same year. The season is just beginning, but MBA Debate is already off to a historic start!