[fblike]
The Harvard National High School Invitational Forensic Tournament lived up to its billing as the largest national circuit tournament in the nation last weekend when it hosted 274 extempers on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The tournament offered a very diverse and competitive field, featuring twelve TOC qualifying tournament champions and several national finalists. The final round had four of the top five finishers from this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin and the top five finishers at this year’s tournament won TOC qualifying tournaments on the national circuit this season.
Arel Rende of Booker T. Washington High School (OK), the reigning NFL National Champion in United States Extemporaneous Speaking, won this year’s tournament and denied Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) the historic opportunity to repeat as Harvard champion. Rende did not take a first place rank in the final round, but his consistency among the five-judge panel with a 2-2-2-3-3 composite was enough for a one-rank victory over Nellans, who went 1-1-2-4-5 in the final. Miles Saffran of Trinity Prepartory School (FL), a winner of four TOC qualifying tournaments this season, had a feast-or-famine final round, as he took three first place ranks, but also took two sixth place ranks, which caused him to finish third. Rende’s victory is his fourth TOC qualifying tournament championship of the season and it is the second time this season that he has kept Nellans from repeating as tournament champion at an event on the national circuit. Rende did the same thing in the United States Extemp category at St. Mark’s in October. Trinity Preparatory School had two finalists, which is an amazing feat considering the size and diversity of this year’s tournament.
The tournament broke to a double octo-final round, meaning that ninety-six extempers participated in the tournament’s elimination rounds. Fifteenn extempers – Talha Ahsan of Eagan High School (MN), Josh Carney of Newton South High School (MA), Maleeha Chida of Scarsdale High School (NY), William Cook of Southlake Carroll Senior High School (TX), Mohica Coscia of Montville Township High School (NJ), Addie Glickstien of Denver East High School (CO), Cody Jones of Lakeville North High School (MN), Shawn Kant and Avni Mahagaoker of Ridge High School (NJ), Christopher Lee of Regis High School (NY), Priya Patel of Foster High School (TX), Naba Rahman of Pine View School (FL), Mark Rinder of Freehold Township High School (NJ), Raj Viswaprabakaran of Plano Senior High School (TX), and Meghan Weston of Fullerton Joint Union High School (CA) – completed their at-large TOC qualification and eighteen other extempers earned their first qualifying leg. Those who earned a qualifying leg at Harvard are indicated in italics below.
This weekend will feature the last two at-large qualifying tournaments for this year’s TOC. The Robert D. Clark Invitational will be held on the University of Oregon’s campus in Eugene, Oregon and Salina High Central in Salina, Kansas will host its annual Salina High Central Invitational. There will also be automatic qualification opportunities for the finalists of state tournaments in Kentucky and Illinois.
Here are the results of the 2014 Harvard National High School Invitational Forensic Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Arel Rende (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
2nd: Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
3rd: Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
4th: Josh Wartel (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
5th: Jasper Primack (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
6th: Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
Semi-Finalists
*Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Jonathan Kumar (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)
*Phoebe Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Gabe Slater (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Ben Tobin (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*Rathnam Venkat (Munster High School, Indiana)
Quarter-Finalists
*Grant Bumgarner (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Micah Cash (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Justin Cooper (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Lyubov Kapko (Tempe Preparatory Academy, Arizona)
*Davis Larkin (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
*Graham Piro (Iona Preparatory School, New York)
*Mark Rinder (Freehold Township High School, New Jersey)
*Sidarth Singh (Munster High School, Indiana)
*Hasan Syed (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Lauren Tucker (Fullerton Joint Union High School, California)
*Will Walker (Fullerton Joint Union High Chool, California)
*Noah Wexler (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
Octo-Finalists
*Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Charlie Barton (Regis High School, New York)
*Will Boling (Brentwood Academy, Tennessee)
*Haley Brahmbhatt (Chanhassen High School, Minnesota)
*Mohica Coscia (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Jack Glaser (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Daniel Greene (The University School, Florida)
*Brinda Gurumoorthy (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Xena Itzkowitz (Freehold Township High School, New Jersey)
*Cody Jones (Lakeville North High School, Minnesota)
*Christopher Jordan (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Shawn Kant (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Prianka Kumar (Desert Vista High School, Arizona)
*Avni Mahagaoker (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Ash Maholtra (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Param Nayar (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*John Neshiwat (Iona Preparatory School, New York)
*Cristine Oh (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Eitan Sapiro-Gheiler (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Margaret Schaack (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Harrison Stall (Southside High School, South Carolina)
*Suzanna Steele (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Adam Stromme (Eagan High School, Minnesota)
*Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall High School, Texas)
Double Octo-Finalists
*Thomas Abel (The Delbarton School, New Jersey)
*Talha Ahsan (Eagan High School, Minnesota)
*Varun Bhatia (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sydney Britton (American Heritage School – Plantation, Florida)
*Josh Carney (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Natalia Castro (Jupiter High School, Florida)
*Teresa Chen (Stuyvesant High School, New York)
*Maleeha Chida (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Rahul Chopra (Concord-Carlisle High School, Massachusetts)
*William Cook (Southlake Carroll Senior High School, Texas)
*Matt Couch (Myers Park High School, North Carolina)
*Sophia Deng (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Max Dopsch (Regis High School, New York)
*Michael Formella (Southlake Carroll Senior High School, Texas)
*Addie Glickstien (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Clare Halsey (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Edric Huang (Stuyvesant High School, New York)
*Darius Hunt (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Abhinav Karale (The Delbarton School, New Jersey)
*Devon Kerr (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Elizabeth Kingaby (Central Cabarrus High School, North Carolina)
*Ryan Klobus (Syosset High School, New York)
*Abhishek Kodumagulla (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Dhanya Kumar (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Christopher Lee (Regis High School, New York)
*Connor Leech (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Jacob Levenson (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Sarah Malek (Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School, New Jersey)
*Ethan Matsuda (Fullerton Joint Union High School, California)
*Chase Miller (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Stephanie Miller (Desert Vista High School, Arizona)
*Priya Patel (Foster High School, Texas)
*Keegan Paugh (Stevens High School, South Dakota)
*William Peebles (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Dan Perry (Westlake High School, Texas)
*Naba Rahman (Pine View School, Florida)
*Haley Pierce-Ramsde (Blaine High School, Minnesota)
*Alexia Rauen (Pennsbury High School, Pennsylvania)
*Rahul Ravindra (John Champe High School, Virginia)
*Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Jonah Scharf (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*Natanya Schnyer (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Jay Sirot (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Sanjay Supan (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Raj Viswaprabakaran (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Ryan Ward (Natick High School, Massachusetts)
*Meghan Weston (Fullerton Joint Union High School, California)
*Patrick Wilson (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)