Frosh/Soph Nationals at Michigan State University
March 2-4, 2013
The MSU Debate team cordially invites you to attend the Freshmen/Sophomore Nationals at Michigan State. We are glad to host this in East Lansing for the fifth time, and hope that turnout will be as good, or even better, as last year.
Based on feedback from previous participants, we have decided to keep the expanded entry pool that allows entry from students in both their first AND second year of college competition. This was the model that we used the last few years, and given our desire to keep entry numbers fairly high, we have decided to continue using this standard.
The entry criteria are based not on students’ academic standing, but on their number of years in college debate -- e.g., if a student is a junior, but is only in their first or second year of college competition, they may enter the tournament.
Below you will find all the relevant information. Entries can be made via Tabroom.com
Lodging: The tournament will be hosted at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on the MSU campus. They have guaranteed us a rate of $97 per night (+ tax). This includes the use of wireless internet. Parking is $5/night.
Rooms are reserved under “MSU Debate Team”. Reservations can be made until January 30th. The hotel phone number is 517-432-4000.
We guestimated the amount of rooms we would need given information from last year. If you find the block to be full, please contact us and we will try and find some more rooms.
Travel: We use a variety of different airports to travel to Lansing --
Lansing airport -- 15 minutes away from the campus, very convenient
Flint airport -- 45 minutes away from the campus, small and convenient, serves Airtran airlines often at discounted rates
Grand Rapids airport -- 1 hour away from the campus, small and convenient
Detroit metro airport -- About 1 hr and 20 minutes away, definitely the least convenient option but frequently the cheapest since it serves most airlines, including Southwest
Fees: Entry fees will be $50 per team plus $30 per person in attendance (debaters, judges, coaches, etc.). This will include the cost of breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, and dinner on Sunday. So, for example, if you were to bring 1 team and 1 judge (3 people), your bill would be $140 ($50 + (3 x $30))
Judge Preference: Judge preference categories will be determined based on the size of the pool. We will update you with information when the preference system is open on Tabroom.com
Elimination Debates: We anticipate clearing to a partial octofinal (to be held on Sunday night) to accommodate all teams with a 4-3 or better record (up to the point where we reach a full octofinal).
Preliminary Schedule:
Friday, March 1st
6:00pm—9:00pm – Registration –Kellogg Center Room 102
Saturday, March 2nd
7:00am – Breakfast Provided
8:00am – Round 1 – debates on campus
11:00am – Round 2
1:00pm – Lunch
2:30pm – Round 3
5:30pm – Round 4
Sunday, March 3rd
7:00am – Breakfast Provided
8:00am – Round 5 – High/Low – debates on campus
11:00am – Round 6 - High/Low
1:00pm – Lunch
2:30pm – Round 7
5:30pm – Partial Octofinal, if necessary
9:00pm – Banquet
Monday, March 4th
7:00am – Report to Rooms
8:00am – Quarterfinals- debates in the Kellogg Center
12:00pm – Semifinals
4:00pm – Finals