The team’s fourth round, versus Ankeny B, was very close. Felix Cook ‘28, Daniel Drollette ‘27, Ethan Lalumiere ‘25, Jethro Michaelson ‘27, and Nicolas Vergara-Vanegas ‘28 were down 120 points when Vergara-Vanegas thought, “We are screwed!”

“We didn’t think there was any way to come back.” Vergara-Vanegas sat out the second half, and the team started closing the gap. “Then, Ethan [Lalumiere] just explodes. He buzzes in three times in a row, one of them being a power (when you buzz in early and get an extra five points).”

By the final question, the gap was at about 30 points, or one tossup (a question where a player buzzes in) and two bonus questions (three per tossup, where the team can confer). “I’m watching from the bench, and I’m going insane because I never thought we would even have a chance.” The team got the tossup and all three bonuses, winning the round by 15 points and securing a spot in the playoffs.

“Arguably, our biggest challenge of the tournament came in our first playoff game, when we played Waukee Northwest.” Vergara-Vanegas said. Waukee Northwest A had one every game so far at that point of the tournament. “It was another very tough game, but we pulled through again, making it to the final round.”

The final team, Marshalltown A, had beaten West Dubuque, the team City A lost to in the third round.

“I felt really anxious about this round, but it turned out we had no need to worry,” Vergara-Vanegas said.

City A won the championship round 410-80, claiming City’s first Varsity Quiz Bowl State Championship and the ICCSD’s third overall Quiz Bowl championship.

“I don’t think I did very well at this tournament,“ Vergara-Vanegas said. “I got a good amount of questions, but it definitely wasn’t my best tournament.” Cook shared a similar sentiment to Vergara-Vanegas. “[In the Ankeny round] we won by a very small margin, and I kinda dropped the ball on it.” Cook, the team’s math and science specialist, claimed there were some questions he missed. “Overall, it wasn’t the worst tournament. You can’t ask for much more than winning the state championship.”