Here is the very last installment of profiles for the sixteen competitors who will be at the 2010 MBA Extemp Round Robin. This last installment details Florida’s competitor in this year’s field, a pair of teammates from California that are making their MBA debut, and a Minnesota state champion who is making her return to the tournament.
Keep in mind that tomorrow on Extemp Central we return to providing you with regular content on the website and will unveil the rules of our contest where you can predict the order of finish for the top five competitors at the Round Robin and the winner of the Exhibition Round. At stake will be gift certificates/cards to SpeechGeek, iTunes, and Starbucks.
KEY: DNA = Did Not Attend; DNC = Did Not Clear (Break); DNF = Did Not Final; NR = Not Ranked
Jared Odessky
*School: Nova HS (Davie, FL)
*Class: Junior
*NFL Points: 892
*Previous Invites to MBA: None
*National Points Race Rank: 6th (69 pts.)
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: T39th (30 pts.)
*Notable Finishes This Season: 1st-Florida Blue Key USX; 5th-Yale; 6th-Glenbrooks; QF-Florida Blue Key IX
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL-DNA
*Notes: Was the first competitor this year to earn points in the National Points Race at multiple national circuit tournaments…Did not attend either nationals last season but that will likely change this year based on his prior results…Invite as a junior nearly guarantees him a bid back into the field for next year so this will be a good place to hone his skills…Final round appearance at Glenbrooks and Yale, arguably two of the more recognized national circuit tournaments of the first semester helped him secure a bid into the tournament…Was also a finalist at Glenbrooks in 2008…Semi-finalist at the Florida state tournament in International Extemp…Has the lowest NFL point total in the field but that is not always a benchmark for significant competitive success as Matt Arons proved last year at the Round Robin…Reached the quarter-final round at Harvard and the semi-finals of the Barkley Forum last season…Is the fourth Nova extemper to compete at the Round Robin and it is the seventh bid for Nova in tournament history…Appearance in the Exhibition Round would make him the first Nova competitor to do so since Josh Rovenger in 2006.
Oscar Wang
*School: San Marino HS (San Marino, CA)
*Class: Senior
*NFL Points: 1,645
*Previous Invites to MBA: None
*National Points Race Rank: T7th (60 pts.)
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: T22nd (65 pts.)
*Notable Finishes This Season: 2nd-George Mason; SF-Yale
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL (USX)-11th
*Notes: One of the two San Marino extempers that are making an apperance in the MBA tournament…Semi-final performance in United States extemp at NFL Nationals put him in position for a bid and a strong second place finish at George Mason in arguably one of the most competitive final rounds of the year pushed him into the field from the bubble…Made an appearance in the George Mason Round Robin but did not place…If he makes the Exhibition Round with Zewail it will be the second time teammates have made it there, to duplicate David Tannenwald and Ron Kendler pulling off the feat for Newton South in 2003…He and Zewail’s runner-up finishes at George Mason and Yale have enabled San Marino to achieve a ten point lead in the National Team Points Race…Finished runner-up to eventual NFL United States extemp national champion Evan Larson at the California Invitatonal at Berkeley last season…His two matchups in the ten round tournament against Tyler Fabbri will be one to watch as a preview for a possible showdown in NFL National finals in United States extemp…Represents the fourth bid of San Marino into the tournament…Was a Congress finalist at the 2008 NFL National tournament…Was a finalist at the California state tournament last season in United States extemp and placed sixth.
Nabeel Zewail
*School: san Marino HS (San Marino, CA)
*Class: Junior
*NFL Points: 1,229
*Previous Invites to MBA: None
*National Points Race Rank: T7th (60 pts.)
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: T35th (41 pts.)
*Notable Finishes This Season: 2nd-Yale
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL (IX)-7th
*Notes: The second of two San Marino extempers in this year’s field…Like his teammate Wang, he put himself in a strong position to earn an invite into the tournament due to his seventh place finish in International Extemp at NFL Nationals…Finished runner-up at the Yale Invitational in early October to MBA participant Aaron Lutkowitz…Odessky and he are the only two juniors in this year’s field so the emphasis will be on gaining experience so as to perform better at next year’s tournament…Is the highest ranking International Extemp participant from last year’s NFL National tournament in the field…If he and Wang turn in strong performances they could further enlarge San Marino’s lead in the National Team Points Race…Finaled at Glenbrooks last season, taking fifth place…Was a semi-finalist at last year’s California Invitational at Berkeley…Represents the fifth bid for San Marino in tournament history…Considering his NFL National performance last year as a sophomore he could be a force to be reckoned with his senior year on the national stage.
Karen Zhou
*School: Lakeville North HS (Lakeville, MN)
*Class: Senior
*NFL Points: 2,120
*Previous Invites to MBA: One (2009)-DNF
*National Points Race Rank: NR
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: NR
*Notable Finishes This Season: QF-Glenbrooks
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL (IX)-QF
*Notes: Is the last of the four returning MBA participants from last year…Won the Minnesota state championship in extemp last year for 2A, a title that was previously held by national championship competitors such as Kevin Troy, Alex Stephenson, and Akshar Rambachan…Of those competitors Troy and Stephenson were also MBA Round Robin champions and Exhibition Round winners…Is the second of two extempers from Lakeville North High School in the field…Her only major national circuit performance this year was a quarter-final finish at Glenbrooks but she will look to erase that at this year’s tournament…Has the highest amount of NFL points in this year’s field…2008 NFL semi-finalist in International Extemp…Semi-finalist at Harvard last season…Matchups against teammate Steven Elliott will likely foreshadow another showdown in the Minnesota 2A extemp final later in the season.