The MSMS Speech and Debate team won several awards on Nov. 16, at the Warrior Invitational hosted by Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg.

Seniors Megan Colley and Ruth Albright won first place in Policy Debate, while junior Izzy Cecil won third place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Cratin Quinnelly, Claire Rizzo, Annaliese Coughlin, Sophia Dean and Rebecca Sun also received awards for qualifying for the quarter or semifinals of the competition. 

The Warrior Invitational hosted schools from across Mississippi including St. Andrews, Madison Central and Jackson Prep. They competed against the Blue Waves in events such as Policy and Lincoln-Douglas.

Colley said the key to success was having trust in her teammate. 

“One thing that kept Ruth and I going was having cohesion with each other and respecting one another. Ruth would sometimes find evidence for my speech, while I would be asking questions or writing something down,” Colley said. “A lot of teams end up talking over each other or one person controlling the entire round. It really proves that they don’t trust their partner in a debate.” 

Cecil said the process of researching a topic thoroughly is important to success. 

“Make sure you choose a question you can actually argue. Once you do that, prep however you see fit,” Cecil said. 

Logan Lechner, president of the Speech and Debate club, was happy with his team’s performance and thought the team prepared well. 

“I was really proud of them. We had a lot of people get quarterfinals or semifinals for other events, and we got a lot of awards overall,” Lechner said.