A Young Roosevelt Debate Team Finishes 2nd at State Tourney
The Roosevelt Debate program sent a young and somewhat inexperienced team to IHSSA State Debate this past weekend, and walked away with a state runner-up title in one of the closest tournaments in state debate history.
The team results:
- West Des Moines Valley: 180 points
- Des Moines Roosevelt: 167 points
- Ankeny: 166 points
- Okoboji/Spirit Lake: 165 points
- Dowling: 164 points
Roosevelt won the state title the past two years in a row as was runner-up three years ago.
Individually, junior Luke Theuma led the way with a second place in student congress. The Hou sisters, seniors Crystal and Stephanie, were semi-finalists in policy debate. And sophomore Emma Weddle was a quarterfinalist in Lincoln Douglas Debate.
Several students were Octo-Finalists in Public Forum Debate: Murphy Burke, Julianna Courard Hauri, Nolan Bursch and Angier Dok.
In Student Congress, sophomore Elena Hildrabrandt just missed the top five in Student Congress. Others receiving honors in Congress were: Freshman Danny Drane, Senior Tom Brown and Junior Claire Yocom.
“The past four years we have been second, first, first and now second. This is perhaps the most satisfying of the placements given the youth of our team,” said head coach Harry Strong. “We have a bunch of disappointed and down kids but the coaching staff is thrilled with their efforts. I have little doubt this group will perform very well at All Iowa Finals in March and even the ledger with Valley.”
