(Ankeny)– The Okoboji-Spirit Lake Debate Team brought home second place honors from the Iowa High School Speech Association State Debate Tournament this past Friday and Saturday in Ankeny. West Des Moines Valley took first place, West Des Moines Dowling was third and Sioux City Heelan was fourth.
In the state tournament, five preliminary rounds are held in policy, public forum and Lincoln-Douglas debate and the top 20 to 25 percent move on to elimination rounds. Okoboji-Spirit Lake had five of six students entered advance in Lincoln-Douglas and all six teams advance in public forum.
Three Okoboji-Spirit Lake students, Tyler Coleman, Adam Schmidt and Michael Baedke finished in the top ten in Student Congress. CJ Miller finished in the second house and Coty Moir won the lower house during the final session.
Of the 30 Okoboji-Spirit Lake students entered, 22 came home with awards.
It was the highest finish for Okoboji-Spirit Lake debate since the Iowa High School Speech Association abandoned its two-class structure in 1996.
Okoboji-Spirit Lake debate is coached by Greg Stevens and Neil Niswander.
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