The middle tier of this year’s National Points Race is the biggest part of the ranking system, being composed of four tournaments. The first tournaments were selected based on their prestige as “major” events that take place during the first and second semester of the year, while the other two tournaments are tournaments that have fallen in their tier ranking from last year.
Tournament #1: The Glenbrooks
Without question, the Glenbrooks is considered the first major national circuit
tournament of the year and its broad geographic participation enables competitors to test their talents against the best in the country. Top finishers are the Glenbrooks in extemp are usually invited to the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin in Nashville, Tennessee at the beginning of second semester, demonstrating the influence that the tournament holds. Last year’s NFL International Extemp champion, Stacey Chen, won here and former NFL United States (2003) and International Extemp (2005) champion Kevin Troy won here as well. It is interesting to note that the winner of Glenbrooks over the last six years has not failed to semi-final or final at NFL Nationals.
Tournament #2: The Harvard Invitational
Like Glenbrooks, Harvard has a large field that involves the best competitors
in the country and like Glenbrooks, NFL International Extemp winner Stacey Chen won here as well en route to winning the National Points Race title. When tournaments are evaluated based on the talent they attract and their administration, Harvard has consistently ranked in the top three, usually in the number one spot ahead of NFL Nationals and the Glenbrooks. Thus, its spot as a “major” national circuit tournament in the second semester is secure for the time being. As a bit of trivia, the last three winners of Harvard: Alex Stephenson of Eagan High School (MN), Becca Goldstein of Newton South High School (MA), and Chen have all gone on to win NFL national championships in the year that they won Harvard and five of the last six winners have been finalists at NFL the year they won this tournament.
Tournament #3: The Extemp TOC
A tournament that has been around since 2003, the Extemp TOC, hosted by 
Northwestern University, attempts to bring to the top extempers in the country together before CFL and NFL Nationals. Over its history, the tournament has attracted a sizeable amount of talent. However, last year’s participation was almost less than half of the size of the previous year. While economic factors have to be considered in that, the lack of large participation caused the Extemp TOC to fall into the third tier this season. Despite the low numbers, the tournament is still run efficiently, uses cross-examination more than any other tournament aside from the MBA Extemp Round Robin, and has a great pool of judging. Its final round last year also featured three of the top four finishers in the national pints race: Chen, Dillon Huff, and Matt Arons. The tournament still has prestige and is considered part of a “Grand Slam” if an extemper is able to win it, MBA, CFL, and NFL, something only Kevin Troy was able to do in 2005, but based on last year’s data we could not justify placing it into a higher tier, especially since only one of the finalists, Chen, managed to final at NFL. If next year’s tournament has a larger and a field with more depth, on par with 2007 and 2008, the Extemp TOC can rise to a higher tier for the next season.
Tournament #4: CFL Nationals
In arguably the most controversial decision for this year’s national points 
race, CFL Nationals has been taken from a first tier tournament to a third tier tournament. Some reading this might wonder how this could happen to a tournament that is deemed as a national tournament. However, the points race committee compared the judging aspects of CFL Nationals to NFL Nationals and other national circuit tournaments and found that the tournament does not always have the best quality as later rounds progress. The tournament also does not attract the same level of participation as NFL Nationals, with several states not having leagues to send students to the tournament. Coupled with the fact that many seniors do not attend the tournament because it conflicts with graduation or prom, the field usually ends up having less quality than other major tournaments throughout the year have had. While some on the points race committee wanted to dock CFL Nationals lower, such a knock would not be justified. The tournament does attract West Coast participation and its list of champions over the years have solid credentials. Also, although the tournament tends to be more delivery-centric than other tournaments that might be content-centric or favor a more balanced style, it shows that an extemper has to be willing to adjust their performance to meet judging expectations and those adjustments are what make good extempers great.
Tomorrow, we will reveal the two tournaments that have been selected for the top two tiers and on Tuesday, our opening day at Extemp Central, we will unveil the top five contenders for next year based on last year’s National Points Race results!