Here is day two of our profiles of the sixteen competitors who will face each other this weekend at the 2011 Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin, a second tier tournament in this year’s National Points Race that will award 150 points to the winner.
Texas and California have the largest contingents at the tournament with three extempers each. This is the fourth consecutive year at the Round Robin that Texas has either had or shared this distinction. It also marks the second consecutive year that California has received three invitations to the Round Robin.
Teagan Lende
*School: Fargo Shanley High School (Fargo, North Dakota)
*Class: Junior
*NFL Points: 2,701
*Previous Invites to MBA: None
*National Points Race Rank: NR
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: 41st (40 pts.)
*National Circuit Finishes This Season: N/A
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL-11th (IX)
*Notes: Is the first competitor from North Dakota to be invited to the Round Robin and one of four juniors in this year’s field. A decent finish this year will likely get him invited back next year if previous Round Robin invites are precedents…Has not attended a national circuit tournament thus far this season…Had a strong finish at NFL Nationals last season in a senior dominated International Extemp category and that semi-final finish earned him an early invitation into this year’s tournament…Has a strong NFL point total for a junior…Is the two-time reigning North Dakota state extemp champion in Class A…Is also the reigning North Dakota state champion in Impromptu speaking…Was an NFL finalist his freshman year in Extemp Commentary, placing fifth…Was a quarter-finalist at last year’s Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University…Arguably one of the biggest wild cards when it comes to nationals later this season.
Curan Mehra
*School: Scarsdale High School (Scarsdale, New York)
*Class: Senior
*NFL Points: 1,016
*Previous Invites to MBA: None
*National Points Race Rank: 5th (70 pts.)
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: NR
*National Circuit Finishes This Season: Yale-1st, Princeton-Semi-Finalist
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-Octos; NFL-Quarters (IX)
*Notes: Was the winner of the Yale Invitational Tournament this season, which provided a near automatic qualification into this year’s field…Defeated National Points leader Nathaniel Donahue at Yale…Is one of three competitors in the top five of this year’s National Points Race that is attending this year’s Round Robin…Could have added to his National Points Race total at Glenbrooks two months ago, but did not break…Was a semi-finalist at Princeton, which was won by fellow MBA invitee Amode Tembhekar…Was a quarter-finalist at Yale last season…Is the seventh bid that Scarsdale has received to the Round Robin and is the first extemper to be invited since 2008…Of the six previous bids that Scarsdale has received they have placed four into the Exhibition Round (Dan Hemel-2003, Charlie Alderman-2006, and Aaron Mattis-2007 & 2008). However, no Scarsdale extemper has won the Round Robin, although Mattis won the Exhibition Round in 2008.
Jared Odessky
*School: Nova High School (Davie, Florida)
*Class: Senior
*NFL Points: 1,267
*Previous Invites to MBA: One (2010-Participant)
*National Points Race Rank: T39th (12 pts.)
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: 15th (119 pts.)
*National Circuit Finishes This Season: Florida Blue Key-2nd (Round Robin), 1st (USX), Quarters (IX); Glenbrooks-Quarters
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL-9th (USX)
*Notes: Last year’s attendance at the Round Robin and his semi-final finish in United States Extemp at NFL Nationals last season earned him a bid into this year’s field…Finished in the top fifteen of last year’s National Points Race and could have finished higher if this year’s National Points Race structure was used…Is the reigning Florida state extemp champion…Comes into MBA ranked lower in the National Points Race than he did last season as he was not able to duplicate his final round placings at Yale and Glenbrooks this year…Did not break at Yale this season, as he was the last competitor to be eliminated in preliminary rounds…His bid marks the eighth time that Nova High School will have an extemper compete at the Round Robin…Nova last placed an extemper in the Exhibition Round in 2006, when Josh Rovenger placed third…Was a quarter-finalist at Emory last season…Won the International Extemp portion of the Florida Blue Key Tournament last season…Faced fellow MBA competitors Nathaniel Donahue and Catherine Chiodo in the Blue Key Round Robin this year. He beat Chiodo, but lost to Donahue.
Alessandro Pauri
*School: Flower Mound High School (Flower Mound, Texas)
*Class: Junior
*NFL Points: 1,627
*Previous Invites to MBA: None
*National Points Race Rank: 15th (40 pts.)
*Last Year’s National Points Race Rank: NR
*National Circuit Finishes This Season: St. Mark’s-2nd (USX), 3rd (IX)
*National Finishes Last Season: CFL-DNA; NFL-Octos (USX)
*Notes: Is one of three Texas extempers in this year’s Round Robin…Is the first extemper from Flower Mound High School to be invited to the Round Robin…Finishes at St. Mark’s and record in Texas, where he had the most TFA points in extemp, earned him a spot in this year’s field…Placed sixth in extemp at Princeton last season…Was a quarter-finalist at last year’s Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University…Was a semi-finalist in International Extemp at St. Mark’s last year…With a respectable placing this year he can solidify a spot in the field next year…Is one of four juniors competing in this year’s tournament…Placings at St. Mark’s demonstrate that he can do both extemp categories well, which is a valuable tool to have for the Round Robin…Sits in the top fifteen of the National Points Race because he was deemed to be the best overall extemper at St. Mark’s due to his finishes in USX and IX.
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