2014-2015 National Points Race: This Year’s Structure

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The 2014-2015 season features the return of the Extemp Central National Points Race.  The National Points Race is a season-long competition that seeks to identify the top extempers across a select group of prestigious national circuit events.  Extemp Central recognizes that in some years the top extemper in the nation may not win the National Points Race due to the inability of some competitors to travel extensively.  Still, three national champions are among the four previous National Points Race winners.

Here is a listing of past National Points Race winners and runner-ups:

For this year’s competition, Extemp Central has divided national circuit tournaments into five tiers.  Tournaments were placed in their respective tier due to their level of prestige, size, geographic location, and – most importantly – their ability to attract top-tier competitors.  Although Extemp Central thought of including state tournament results in this year’s race, it eventually chose not to because not all states are equal in terms of competition and demarcating which states would receive bonuses would be a cause for headaches.  Also, some states have multiple classes at their state championship tournaments, so that would make for some messy calculations.  It should be noted that the position of all of the tournaments on a particular tier is not fixed from season to season.  For example, in 2010 the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) was relegated to the fourth tier after it attracted a very small field the previous season.  The California Invitational rose from the fifth to fourth tier over time as well.

Admittedly, one of the shortcomings of the National Points Race is that it includes more tournaments on the East Coast than the West Coast.  We have tried to be fair to our California readers and competitors by including Stanford and James Logan’s MLK Invitational in the rankings.

One of the reasons we are able to maintain the National Points Race and an Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) is that we have great readers who contribute results.  If you attend a National Points Race or TOC tournament this year, please let us know the results of these tournaments.  For bigger tournaments, a tab sheet is preferable since competitors who finish outside of finals still earn points.

First Tier:  NSDA Nationals

Although the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament has its flaws, it is still the largest speech tournament of the season.  For this reason, it is the sole tournament that enjoys first tier status in the National Points Race.

Since NSDA Nationals does not have a unified extemp category – something that this author wishes would change – the field of the tournament that has the “deeper” field will receive a fifty point bonus.  The extemp category that has the most extempers from the top twenty-five in its field will receive the bonus.  If there is a tie for whatever reason, no bonus will be awarded.

One of the tweaks to this year’s point structure is that winning the final round will count for more than twenty-five points.  The winner of the final round in the weakest extemp category will receive forty points, with the winner of the final round in the strongest category receiving fifty points.  This could make a difference in the final rankings, as Jacob Baker edged James Mohan in the 2010 National Points Race due to winning the International Extemp final round (where he defeated Mohan by judges preference).

Here are the points awarded for NSDA Nationals in 2014-2015:

*Bonus for strong field is denoted in parenthesis.

Second Tier:  The Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin & Harvard

The second tier tournament features two prestigious events on the 2014-2015 calendar:  The Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) Extemp Round Robin and Harvard.  MBA receives its high status because of the quality of the field that attends the tournament and the quality of its judge pool.  Harvard is slated into the second tier due to it being the largest high school invitational of the season.  Last season, Harvard broke to double-octofinals, but only those competitors who make the octofinal round and beyond will receive points.  The top six at MBA will receive points, as those are the only recognized places at the tournament.

Here are the points awarded for these second tier tournaments in 2014-2015:

Third Tier:  Glenbrooks, George Mason University Patriot Games, the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC), and CFL Nationals

All of the tournaments in the third tier have large, quality fields.  Glenbrooks is the largest national circuit tournament hosted by a high school program.  George Mason University (GMU) hosts a prestigious event that is often the last shot for competitors to earn an MBA bid.  The Extemp TOC still attracts enough starpower to field impressive final rounds, although more competitors could attend the tournament.  And CFL Nationals is doing a better job acquiring more geographic participation.

Competitors that make the quarter-final round and beyond at third tier tournaments will receive points in this year’s National Points Race.

Here are the points awarded for these third tier tournaments in 2014-2015:

Fourth Tier:  The Yale Invitational, The Barkley Forum, the California Invitational, and the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (TOC)

The tournaments that occupy the fourth tier of the National Points Race have the status of strong, regional competitions.  The Yale Invitational draws a sizable and distinguished Northeast field.  The Barkley Forum occupies the same role for the South.  The California Invitational would have a stronger claim to the third tier if more schools from outside of the state attended.  Since that tournament runs against Harvard, that will be a tall order, but it is our justification for not placing the California Invitational higher.  The University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (TOC) makes its National Points Race debut in the fourth tier.  This is the first year that the UK TOC will run a “regular” extemp tournament as opposed to a round robin, so depending on the field it attracts it may rise or decline on our rankings.

Those competitors that reach the semi-final round and beyond will earn points for this year’s National Points Race.

Here are the points awarded for these fourth tier tournaments in 2014-2015:

Fifth Tier:  The Wake Forest National Early Bird, The New York City Invitational, St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, Florida Blue Key, James Logan MLK Invitational, Schwan’s Speech Spectacular, and Stanford National Invitational

The fifth tier is the most crowded on the 2014-2015 National Points Race calendar.  All of these tournaments have a degree of historical prestige or have a rising profile on the national circuit.  Wake Forest kicks off the season.  The New York City Invitational is becoming a great complement to Yale in the Northeast.  St. Mark’s and Florida Blue Key are unique in that they allow extempers to double in International and United States Extemp.  Minnesota’s success in extemp makes the Schwan’s Speech Spectacular a hard tournament.  James Logan and Stanford are the West Coast fifth tier tournaments and feature crowded fields from across the state.

Extempers that attend St. Mark’s and Blue Key will not have their points double counted from each category.  Instead, Extemp Central will have a points system to evaluate the top six extempers at each tournament based on their performance.  Those six extempers will receive the fifth tier points.

Fifth tier tournaments are make-or-break affairs.  Only those extempers who reach the final round will receive points.

Here are the points awarded for these fifth tier tournaments in 2014-2015:

The point system listed above is final for the 2014-2015 season.  Extemp Central looks forward to covering this year’s race and wishes good luck to all of the extempers heading to Winston Salem, North Carolina for the Wake Forest National Early Bird.