Mercer Debate team wins prestigious tournament for the first time in program history Mercer beat Oregon State, Penn State and UC Berkeley for the championship title in the largest debate tournament outside of Nationals. Author: Pepper Baker Updated: 7:31 AM EST January 27, 2021 MACON, Ga. — One group at Mercer University is making quite the name for itself and leaving nothing up for debate. That's because the debate team made history as champions of a prestigious tournament. Mercer Professor and Director of Speech and Debate Vasile Stanescu witnessed the teams first win at the 15th Annual Mile High Swing. "We have gone to this tournament every single year for eight years, and the first time that we went, they had no idea who Mercer was," Stanescu said.