[fblike]
While the polar vortex brought cold temperatures to much of the country, sixty-eight extempers competed in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida for this year’s Sunvitational. Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), coming off the heels of a third place finish at the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin two weeks ago, cruised to a dominating ten rank victory in the cumulative tournament that functioned as a small preview of the Extemp Tournament of Champions (TOC), since seventeen of the twenty-four elimination round participants had already qualified to this year’s TOC. The victory is Saffran’s fourth at a TOC qualifying tournament this season. Noah Wexler of Nova High School (FL), who won the Crestian Tradition in October, took second and Richard Diubra of Millard West High School (NE) took third. Trinity Preparatory School had six elimination round participants, which was more than any other program at the tournament.
Since there were more than sixty entries, all of the extempers that made it to elimination rounds earned a TOC qualifying leg and those that earned a leg are indictated in italics in the results listing. Seven extempers earned a qualifying leg at the tournament and three extempers, Gillian Grossen of Cypress Bay High School (FL), Joseph Grossman of St. Thomas Aquinas High School (FL), and Jacob Levenson of Nova High School earned their second leg to qualify for the TOC.
Two TOC tournaments will take place this weekend. James Logan High School in California will host its annual Martin Luther King Invitational and Chanhassen High School in Minnesota will host the Chanhassen High School Speech Tournament.
Here are the results of the 2014 Sunvitational (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
2nd: Noah Wexler (Nova High School, Florida)
3rd: Richard Diurba (Millard West High School, Nebraska)
4th: Cameron James Bonnewell (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
5th: Adam Hamilton (Bronx High School of Science, New York)
6th: Natalia Castro (Jupiter High School, Florida)
Semi-Finalists
*Varun Bhatia (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sydney Britton (American Heritage School – Plantation, Florida)
*Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Connor Leech (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Brian Min (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Henry Zelenka (Kent Denver School, Colorado)
Quarter-Finalists
*Omer Bensaadon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Kendra Blandon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Gillian Grossen (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Joseph Grossman (St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Florida)
*Jacob Levenson (Nova High School, Florida)
*Giancarlo Musetti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Isabella Paretti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Aaron Patel (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Joey Piaker (Bronx High School of Science, New York)
*Naba Rahman (Pine View School, Florida)
*Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sanjay Supan (Nova High School, Florida)
Extemp Central thanks the tab staff of the Sunvitational for posting the tournament results online.