Any rankings system has to have its “premier” tournaments that can be used to evaluate talent. Last year, when the system had three tiers, CFL and NFL Nationals made up the first tier of the National Points Race system. However, this year there is a shakeup near the top, as yesterday it was revealed that CFL Nationals would be a third tier tournament. The first and second tiers will only include one tournament apiece, meant to add greater emphasis to those two events. Today, Extemp Central reveals the two tournaments that have been selected for those tiers to finish up our unveiling of the tournaments that will be part of this year’s National Points Race.
Second Tier
Tournament: The Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin
Since 1999, Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee has played
host to the most prestigious extemp tournament in the country. Each year, the tournament invites 16 (formerly 15) of the best extempers in the country, based on their finishes at the previous year’s nationals and the season’s national circuit tournaments. Simply gaining an invite to MBA is a prestigious event, but winning the tournament puts one in a class of the best extempers of all-time. The competition offers a friendly, yet competitive environment over ten preliminary rounds, all of which use the traditional three minute cross-examination format and are adjudicated by three judges. Although only five of the sixteen extempers invited make the Exhibition Round of the tournament, Extemp Central has decided this year that the sixth place finisher will receive points. The decision has also been made not to give bonus points to the Exhibition Round winner since the round is judged by the students who did not make the Exhibition Round and may not be as credible as judging that has taken place prior in the tournament. Also, as was seen on this site last year, Extemp Central plans on doing live coverage from the MBA Round Robin so that extempers around the country can follow the tournament round-by-round. While some may argue that it is not fair to put MBA on this high of a tier because it is an invite-only tournament, the selection process for the tournament has shown to be credible during the season and based on the level of competition, the performance of that competition on a national stage later in the season (three of last year’s four recognized national championships, if NFL final rounds are included, went to competitors at the Round Robin), and the prestige the event, Extemp Central’s points committee felt that it was worthy of a second tier placing.
First Tier
Tournament: NFL Nationals
Although there was some lobbying to place MBA higher than NFL Nationals, it
was decided that such a decision could not be justified. The final round of NFL Nationals continues to be considered as the biggest stage an extemper can compete on during their career and a victory at NFL carries prestige and scholarship money. The tournament’s thirteen rounds provides a mental test that can be overwhelming even for the best of competitors. While Extemp Central wishes NFL would go back to three minute as opposed to two minute cross-examination in finals, we applaud the fact that cross-examination is now a part of semi-final rounds at the tournament. For this year’s points race, there will be graduated points for each semi-finalist at NFL, since places seven through fourteen are recognized at the tournament. For example, unlike last year where seventh place received twenty-five points and fourteenth place received the same amount, seventh place will receive thirty to forty more points more than the fourteenth place finisher. Since the tournament is cumulative, we believe this is the fair thing to do as all semi-finalists have had to compete in twelve rounds. Since CFL Nationals does not recognize semi-finalist placings, all semi-finalists there will receive the same amount of points. Finally, the national final round champions in U.S. and International extemp will continue to receive bonus points.
With that, all of the tournaments that will be used for the National Points Race have been revealed. Astute observers notice that the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic has been taken out of the National Points Race for this season and the reason for that was that the Liberty Bell Classic will run opposite of Harvard and Berkeley this year and the points committee is waiting to see how this impacts participation at the tournament. Also, the small size of last year’s field, coupled with there already being two sizeable tournaments in that area of the country (Yale and Harvard) were cited reasons for taking it off of this year’s tournament list for the National Points Race.
So to quickly recap the tiers and the tournaments within them:
First Tier: NFL Nationals
Second Tier: Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin
Third Tier: Glenbrooks, Harvard, the Extemp TOC, and CFL Nationals
Fourth Tier: Yale, George Mason, and Barkley Forum
Fifth Tier: Wake Forest, St. Mark’s, and Berkeley
It should be an exciting season and Extemp Central looks forward to bringing you monthly coverage of its National Points Race. Look in this month’s Ex Files for the points that will be allocated for each tier and an interview with last year’s National Points Race Champion Stacey Chen!
And come back tomorrow for the opening day of the season at Extemp Central where we will not only provide the first ten questions of the season, but also the top ten extempers to watch based on last year’s National Points Race.