After two days of tournament-style competition, Lily Rantanen ‘26 and Toe Collins ‘26 defeated the Des Moines Roosevelt debate team to win the policy debate state championship for City High.

“Last year, City High swept State. I mean, it was not close. It seemed like it was going to be the same this year,” Collins said. “But it wasn’t, it actually ended up being a pretty difficult tournament.”

The IHSSA (Iowa High School Speech Association) Policy Debate tournament took place in Ankeny on January 9 and 10 and consisted of five preliminary rounds and three single-elimination rounds.

“Each round is two hours long,” Rantanen said,  “We had four rounds per day, which means that you’re debating for eight hours straight every single day.”

Rantanen and Collins, who have debated together for three years, placed second in the preliminary round after winning four rounds and losing one. They went on to defeat Dowling Catholic in the quarterfinals, West High in the semifinals, and, finally, Des Moines Roosevelt in the finals. 

“Lily and Toe are very good at thinking about strategy going into a round,” head  debate coach Drew Gartner said, “They’re very persuasive, and they both have a lot of ethos. When they’re talking, you want to believe the words they’re saying. I think those things are really helpful to convince the judges that they’re right.”