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The Ohio High School Speech League (OHSSL) held its state tournament last weekend at Canfield and Boardman High Schools. Forty-seven extempers participated in the International Extemp half of the tournament and fifty extempers participated in the United States Extemp half.

In International Extemp, Brenden Kost of Wauseon High School won his school’s first championship in the category, finishing two ranks ahead of Priya Podugu of Jackson High School. Podugu was trying to give Jackson its third International Extemp winner in the last four seasons. Wake Forest champion Yijia Liang of Upper Arlington High School finished three ranks back, taking third place. Allison Christopher of Ursuline High School finished fourth, which was three places better than her showing last season.

In United States Extemp, Berthy Feng of the Laurel School posted a four rank margin of victory over Brianna Ledsome of Niles McKinley High School. Feng’s victory gives the Laurel School two United States Extemp state champions in the last three years. Jad Hamdan of Jackson High School, who finished runner-up last season, ended the tournament in third place, five ranks behind Feng.

Eleven extempers earned an automatic qualification to this year’s Extemp TOC at Northwestern University by making the final round of their respective extemp category. Those earning an automatic qualification are indicated in italics below.

Here are the results of the 2015 Ohio High School Speech League State Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):

International Extemp

Champion: Brenden Kost (Wauseon High School, Ohio)
2nd: Priya Podugu (Jackson High School, Ohio)
3rd: Yijia Liang (Upper Arlington High School, Ohio)
4th: Allison Christopher (Ursuline High School, Ohio)
5th: Alec Kan (Canfield High School, Ohio)
6th: Vinay Bodapati (Solon High School, Ohio)
7th: Bharath Katragadda (Solon High School, Ohio)

Semi-Finalists

*Ananya Khalahasti (Hathaway Brown School, Ohio)
*Clay Owens (Perry High School, Ohio)
*Vighnesh Ramesh (Mason High School, Ohio)
*Michael Vargo (Columbiana High School, Ohio)
*Sriharsha Voleti (Mason High School, Ohio)

Quarter-Finalists

*Eli Abboud (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Paige Clayton (Wooster High School, Ohio)
*Dody Elnaas (Columbiana High School, Ohio)
*Andrew Hamiel (Oakwood High School, Ohio)
*Joseph Humenick (Cardinal-Mooney High School, Ohio)
*Isaac Jacobson (The Hawken School, Ohio)
*Akshay Jain (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Cooper Johnson (Canfield High School, Ohio)
*Kevin Niu (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Yvana Petros (The Hawken School, Ohio)
*Ashwin Veeramani (The University School, Ohio)
*Jacob Wilkinson (Wadsworth High School, Ohio)

United States Extemp

Champion: Berthy Feng (The Laurel School, Ohio)
2nd: Brianna Ledsome (Niles McKinley High School, Ohio)
3rd: Jad Hamdan (Jackson High School, Ohio)
4th: Michael Eggiman (Cardinal-Mooney High School, Ohio)
5th: Bruce Wiggins (Columbiana High School, Ohio)
6th: Jack Bruno (Wadsworth High School, Ohio)

Semi-Finalists

*Vaughn Cockayne (Oakwood High School, Ohio)
*Mary Grace Gorman (Wooster High School, Ohio)
*Max Liu (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Jane O’Dwyer (The Laurel School, Ohio)
*Cassandra Williams (Gilmour Academy, Ohio)
*Shana Zelenka (Copley High School, Ohio)

Quarter-Finalists

*Ben Beecroft (Centerville High School, Ohio)
*Maria Bova (Cardinal-Mooney High School, Ohio)
*Shannon Calhoun (Austintown-Fitch High School, Ohio)
*Jillian Eckroate (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Samantha Fritz (Canfield High School, Ohio)
*Katy Krepp (Perry High School, Ohio)
*Carson Markley (Canfield High School, Ohio)
*Cameron Mathis (Middletown High School, Ohio)
*Garrett McGinty (Austintown-Fitch High School, Ohio)
*Kara Okular (Cardinal-Mooney High School, Ohio)
*Julia Saltzman (The Laurel School, Ohio)
*Ajay Saraf (Mason High School, Ohio)

Extemp Central thanks the Ohio High School Speech League for putting the results of the tournament online.