The Binghamton University Speech and Debate team is now ranked No. 5 in the country after a first-place finish last weekend at the University of Vermont’s annual Huber Debates.

Maneo Choudhury, a freshman majoring in financial engineering, and Franklyn Smith, a sophomore majoring in English, won a unanimous decision over a team from the United States Military Academy in the final round of the competition’s novice division. This is the second year in a row that BU has won the novice division at the Huber Debates.

BU’s top teams in its varsity division roster did not travel to Vermont.

Choudhury was named the novice division’s top speaker. Phil George, a freshman majoring in economics, Josh Frumkin, a junior majoring in political science, and Anna Pinchuk, a freshman majoring in political science — who is from the Ukraine and speaks English as her third language — also ranked as top-10 speakers.

The team traveled to Vermont without head coach Joe Leeson-Schatz, who stayed behind in Binghamton with mono and bronchitis. Assistant coach Rob Glass, who graduated from BU this spring, coached the team at an away tournament for the first time without Leeson-Schatz, leading 30 debaters at a competition that saw BU move up eight places in the national rankings.

The team will travel next to New Jersey for the 2011 Rutgers Newark Debate Tournament Nov. 18-20.