Congratulations Murrah Speech and Debate Team On A Great Showing At The William Carey Crusader Classic Speech & Debate Tournament on September 6, 2025.

 Murrah debaters, Madison Cormack and Clarissa Coleman, “closed out” Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate finals! A “close out” happens when the only two debaters left in the bracket are from the same school, and we get the choice of not debating finals and just naming them co-champions. After the semifinals, Madison Cormack and Clarissa Coleman, both seniors, were the only two debaters still “standing”, so they were named co-champions in the Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Notably, they were both undefeated in preliminaries (5-0) and in eliminations, not losing a single ballot! They defeated debaters from St. Andrew’s, Petal, and Oak Grove High Schools on their way to the close-out.

Other MHS team placings at the tournament include:

Clarissa Coleman (12th grade) - Varsity Extemp 3rd, Impromptu Semifinals

Theo Milnor (12th grade) - Informative Semifinals, Program Interp Semifinals

Madison Cormack (12th grade) - Impromptu Semifinals

Miles Hansen (11th grade) - Varsity Extemp 1st, Congress 2nd, Broadcast 3rd

Ava Reed (11th grade) - Varsity Prose 1st, Broadcast 6th

DaKota Haynes (11th grade) - Varsity Prose 6th, Varsity Poetry Semifinals

Roscoe Levanway (11th grade) - Congress Finals Presiding Officer

Riley Cloyd (10th grade) - Program Interp 3rd, Storytelling 3rd

Paige Barker (10th grade) - Congress Finals, Varsity Poetry Semifinals

Charlie Belvin & Simms Powell (9th grade) - Novice Public Forum Debate 2nd