MBA DEBATE CAPTURES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, SETS NEW RECORD FOR ADVANCING TEAMS

MBA Debate has once again made national success look routine, winning the National Debate Coaches Association Championship for the third time since 2019 and breaking a record—previously held by the Big Red—for the most teams to advance to the elimination rounds of the event.

The team of Kavneer Majhail ('25) and Russell Howard ('26) defeated St. Mark’s School of Texas (Dallas) in the final round to claim the title. They went 5-1 in the preliminary rounds—earning the second overall seed for elimination rounds—before not dropping a single ballot in five straight elimination debates. Russell was the tournament’s fourth overall speaker, while Kavneer ranked 14th.

They weren’t the only ones who impressed in Atlanta. The Big Red sent all six teams to the elimination rounds, setting a new record after previously advancing five teams in 2023 (the prior record had been three). Aziz Sahibnazarova ('25) and Artem Raeivskyi ('25) reached the Round of 32, while the teams of Arish Singhvi ('25) and Jimmy Li ('26), and William Peng ('25) and Kenny Royer ('25), advanced to the Sweet 16. Two additional teams—Fox Travis ('26) and Enno Brandes ('27), and Res Seibels ('26) and Oliver Johnston ('26) —were quarterfinalists, with Majhail and Howard ultimately taking home the championship title.

MBA, which won seven tournaments this year including the program’s first-ever win at the Greenhill Invitational in Dallas, will wrap up its successful season at the JW Patterson Tournament of Champions, hosted by the University of Kentucky, in two weeks. Participation is earned through a competitive qualifying process, securing “bids” at over 100 prestigious qualifying tournaments across the country and worldwide. The Big Red has five teams qualified with a record 31 bids earned, breaking a 2017 mark of 27 also set by MBA. With a talented first-year class that impressed at the tournaments they attend plus six of the team’s Tournament of Champions debaters returning, the future remains bright for the Big Red team.