2015 California Invitational: Hu Wins Second Consecutive National Points Race Tournament; Defending Champion Yu Takes Fifth

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Ethan Hu of Leland High School (CA) has used the last two weeks of California tournaments to establish himself as one of the top extempers in the country. After doing the best of any extemper in both extemp categories at Stanford, Hu went on to win last week’s California Invitational, defeating more than 100 extempers, and securing his second National Points Race tournament victory of the season. Hu will receive seventy points for his victory since the California Invitational is a fourth tier tournament. Ankur Mahesh of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) finished six ranks behind Hu and was the runner-up.

The final round featured some significant names on the national circuit, as Glenbrooks winner Jack Glaser of George Washington High School (CO) finished third and NSDA United States extemp finalist Brian Yu of Monte Vista High School (CA) finished fifth. Yu was trying to become the third extemper to win consecutive California Invitational titles in the last six years.

The California Invitational was the last chance for those extempers carrying one qualifying leg into the tournament to complete their at-large qualification to the 2015 Extemp TOC and six extempers – Kendra Blandon of Cypress Bay High School (FL), Cassandra Dinh of Schurr High School (CA), Arjun Narayan of The Harker School (CA), Connor Sendel of Cherry Creek High School (CO), Bryan Wang of Miramonte High School (CA), Brian Xu of San Marino High School (CA), and Matthew Zheng of Mira Loma High School (CA) – managed to do so.

All of the finalists also earned an automatic qualification to the 2015 University of Kentucky TOC.

Here are the results of the 2015 California Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion: Ethan Hu (Leland High School, California)
2nd: Ankur Mahesh (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
3rd: Jack Glaser (George Washington High School, Colorado)
4th: Cassandra Dinh (Schurr High School, California)
5th: Brian Yu (Monte Vista High School, California)
6th: Jason Fisher (Highlands Ranch High School, Colorado)
7th: Daniel Ginsburg (Miramonte High School, California)

Semi-Finalists

*Aaron Baum (Miramonte High School, California)
*Kendra Blandon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Rohan Dhoopar (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Rishi Krishnan (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Arjun Narayan (The Harker School, California)

Quarter-Finalists

*Emma Bakken (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Jarrek Holmes (Kent Denver School, Colorado)
*Clayton Jacobs (Torrey Pines High School, California)
*Nathan Lam (San Marino High School, California)
*Sarah Linton (San Marino High School, California)
*Cameron Loftis (Leland High School, California)
*Michael Lupher (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Manasi Patwa (Archbishop Mitty High School, California)
*Connor Sendel (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado)
*Bryan Wang (Miramonte High School, California)
*Brian Xu (San Marino High School, California)
*Matthew Zheng (Mira Loma High School, California)

Octo-Finalists

*Nathan Chan (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Bryant Cong (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Meredith Duflock (Notre Dame High School – San Jose, California)
*Kelsey England (Northland Christian School, Texas)
*Alex Gao (Oxford Academy, California)
*Samantha Hu (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado)
*William Kunkle (Schurr High School, California)
*Victoria Lu (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Jui Malwankar (Saratoga High School, California)
*Michaela Moriarty (Claremont High School, California)
*Pranaya Pahwa (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Adam Pepper (Redlands High School, California)
*Hayley Pierce-Ramsdell (Blaine High School, Minnesota)
*Darren Pomida (Westwood High School,Texas)
*Arian Raje (The Brooks Academy, California)
*Kaiden Ricksecker (Redlands High School, California)
*Dylan Rudolph (Sierra Canyon School, California)
*Natanya Schnyer (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Shankara Srikantan (Cupertino High School, California)
*Ken Tanaka (Leland High School, California)
*Sid Venkateswaran (Leland High School, California)
*Steven Wang (The Harker School, California)
*Jennifer Xiao (San Marino High School, California)
*Alyssa Zhang (Lynbrook High School, California)

Extemp Central thanks the University of California-Berkeley for posting the results of the tournament online.