(Indianola, Iowa) – Five students from the Atlantic High School competed over the weekend in Indianola, at the Iowa Forensic League State Tournament at Simpson College.  Atlantic Head Speech/Debate Coach Trisha Koenig says “Every one of them broke to Finals and is bringing home a plaque!”

They results include:

• J. Molina 3rd in Original Oratory
• Nissa Molgaard 3rd in Spontaneous Speaking
• Margaret McCurdy 3rd in Dramatic Interpretation
• Margaret McCurdy 3rd in Program Oral Interpretation
• Alix Nath 3rd in Humorous Interpretation
• Alix Nath 5th in Program Oral Interpretation
• Dean Cook 5th in Humorous Interpretation

Coach Koenig says Alix was also a finalist for Student of the Year! As a team, we placed 5th in the overall Sweepstakes. “In addition,” Coach Koenig says she had “an incredible honor” bestowed upon her: She was named the IFL Coach of the Year for 2025, “voted upon by my peers, coaches across the state. I am beyond excited and flattered to have been chosen. Many tears have been shed already.”

Coach Trisha Koenig

The IFL Weekend continued with Atlantic’s Congress students competing Fri-Sat.  The Congress students consisted of Nissa Molgaard, Bailey Grieshaber, Hope Mathis, and Ean Bloomfield. “Unfortunately,” Coach Koenig says, “none of our 4 broke to the final round. However, I am very impressed by the work put in to prepare. I love seeing the Senior leadership of Nissa and the experience of Bailey guiding Hope and Ean to learn more about Congress. I can see those younger students continuing with Congress in the future.”

The Coach added, “Bryce Smith helped me out by taking some of the previous IFL students over to CAM for the 54th Annual Walnut Hill Individual Speech Tournament. We again had success!” The results:

• J.Molina placed 1st in Original Oratory
• Alix Nath 3rd in Storytelling
• Alix Nath 2nd in Prose
• Margaret McCurdy 1st in Prose
• Margaret McCurdy 2nd in Literary Program
• Aubrey Welsh broke into Finals in Acting (top 6)

“As a team, our Atlantic kids placed 4th in the overall Sweepstakes,” the Coach says, “which is quite impressive given our small team size. I am so proud of this whole weekend and the work our students put in on both the Speech & Debate side. As it was said at IFL, we “do a lot with very little”, and I will embrace that with pride! Thank you for your continued support of our activity!”