Over the weekend of Friday, Sept. 23, through Sunday, Sept. 25, the Mississippi State University Speech and Debate Council competed in the Hub City Swing Tournament at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 
The team entered its second year with resounding success. The team was composed of students William Bonduris, Athena Kavanagh, Parker Krag, Julia-Rachel Kuehnle, Josh McCoy, Mackenzie Ellis, Colleen McInnis, and Coaches Brett Harvey and Cheryl Chambers. 
Athena Kavanagh, a junior economics major from Huntsville, Alabama, and president of the Speech and Debate Council, was proud to see her team perform well.
“I think we all performed very well under a lot of pressure. And it was a really good way to start off the competition season,” Kavanagh said.
Over 30 universities competed at the tournament, with the Speech and Debate Council placing second overall in the tournament, and fourth in debate. 
Ms. Cheryl Chambers, communication instructor at MSU, and the speech coach for the team, was very satisfied with the team’s results. 
“I was very pleased with our performance, we had very good standing on the debate side of things,” Chambers said. 
The Speech and Debate Council has many exciting events and tournaments planned for the coming year. The team hopes to attend tournaments at Louisiana State University-Shreveport, The University of Alabama and Mississippi College this semester. 
Colleen McInnis, a junior art major, from Valrico, Florida, and vice president of the Speech team, was eager to participate in her first debate tournament. 
“I think that the team as a whole did extremely well, we got second place overall which is amazing,” McInnis said. 
The MSU Speech and Debate Team meets at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays in McComas 204 and on Thursdays in Union 230 for debate practice, and at noon on Wednesdays in Union 328 for speech practice. Interested individuals in either speech or debate can contact Cheryl Chambers at [email protected] for more information.