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At the beginning of the morning, more than 200 extempers were still alive in International and United States Extemporaneous Speaking. Now the field in each event has been whittled down to thirty. Tomorrow morning, these thirty extempers will give their ninth and tenth speeches of the tournament. They will seek a spot in the semi-finals, which will put them two rounds away from the NSDA final round stage and, for any non-seniors, give them an automatic qualification back to next year’s national tournament. By the end of tomorrow, we will know who the six finalists are in each category.
Octofinals did not carry any of its usual surprises as all of the big names of last year’s tournament and this year’s national circuit advanced to quarters. Last year’s USX finalists remain alive, as do other USX notables such as Jasper Primack of Newton South High School (MA), Brian Anderson of LaRue County High School (KY), Nida Ansari of Riverside High School (SC), Jad Hamdan of Jackson High School (OH), Cameron James Bonnewell of Lake Highland Preparatory (FL), and Brian Yu of Monte Vista High School (CA). In International Extemp, two of last year’s finalists remain alive as Lyubov Kapko of Tempe Preparatory Academy (AZ) and Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt (IA) clear to rounds nine and ten. They will be joined by other IX notables such as Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), Dylan Adelman of Lakeville South High School (MN), Abhishek Bhargava of Jackson High School (OH), Gabe Slater of Denver East High School (CO), and Will Walker of Fullerton Joint Union High School (CA) tomorrow. The names in this paragraph are only a sampling of the great competitors that remain in the field.
California currently leads all the states in most extemp breaks to quarters with nine across both categories. Texas is second with seven.
A fact that illustrates the depth of this year’s quarter-final field is that eleven extempers in International Extemp have won a state championship at some point in their extemporaneous speaking career. In United States Extemp, nine extempers are state champions.
Extemp Central congratulates the thirty extempers in each category who have reached the quarter-final rounds.
Key
*Extempers in red are finalists from last year’s NSDA Nationals.
*Extempers in blue are semi-finalists from last year’s NSDA Nationals.
International Extemp
*Dylan Adelman (Lakeville South High School, Minnesota)
*Ben Anderson (Liberty Senior High School, Missouri)
*Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Abhishek Bhargava (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Aniket Biswas (Buffalo Grove High School, Illinois)
*Ian Buckman (Leland High School, California)
*Cara Clark (Beavercreek High School, Ohio)
*Clayton Cooper (Columbiana High School, Ohio)
*Sophia Deng (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Rohan Dhoopar (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Dylan Dickens (Friendswood High School, Texas)
*Alex Doan (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Charles Michael Hinman (Miramonte High School, California)
*Vinesh Kannan (Illinois Math and Science Academy, Illinois)
*Lyubov Kapko (Tempe Preparatory Academy, Arizona)
*Davis Larkin (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
*Phoebe Lin (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Mercer Martin (Willard High School, Missouri)
*Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
*Isabella Paretti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Parth Patel (Huntley High School, Illinois)
*Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Jamie Shen (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Sidarth Singh (Munter High School, Indiana)
*Gabe Slater (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Rathnam Venkat (Munster High School, Indiana)
*Will Walker (Fullerton Joint Union High School, California)
*Eric Wang (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Alex Ye (Gabrielino High School, California)
United States Extemp
*Carunya Achar (Cypress Creek High School, Texas)
*Cosmo Albrecht (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
*Sophia Alvarez (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
*Nida Ansari (Riverside High School, South Carolina)
*Cameron James Bonnewell (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida)
*Steven Chun (Hinsdale Central High School, Illinois)
*Richard Diurba (Millard West High School, Nebraska)
*Brian Duricy (Howland High School, Ohio)
*Andrew Figueiredo (Wichita East High School, Kansas)
*Jad Hamdan (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Christopher Jordan (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Alekh Kale (James Madison Memorial High School, Wisconsin)
*Shawn Kant (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*John Kurila (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Charlie Liao (Monte Vista High School, California)
*Ash Malhotra (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Jake Z. Moore (Lincoln Southeast High School, Nebraska)
*Vishal Narayanaswamy (James Madison Memorial High School, Wisconsin)
*Jasper Primack (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Arel Rende (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Joe Russell (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Margaret Schaack (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Jay Sirot (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
*Adam Stromme (Eagan High School, Minnesota)
*Josh Wartel (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall High School, Texas)
*Brian Yu (Monte Vista High School, California)