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Although the University of Kentucky has hosted an extemporaneous speaking section of its Tournament of Champions (TOC) event for the last three years, this year was the first that a large-scale tournament was held in the Bluegrass State. Forty-eight extempers made the trip to Lexington, which included ten of the top twenty-five extempers in the National Points Race and four of the top six finishers at this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin.

Brian Anderson of LaRue County High School (KY), ranked third in the National Points Race, defended home turf with a resounding victory, winning the cumulative tournament by nine ranks. This was Anderson’s first national circuit victory of the season, although he had several runner-up finishes before this, which include MBA and the Barkley Forum. The victory will help Anderson’s quest to regain the top spot in the National Points Race as he will earn seventy points for his win.

Phoebe Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX), the National Points Race winner from St. Mark’s, was the runner-up. However, Lin did win the final round by one rank over Anderson, thereby winning her second significant final round of the year. Lin also won the MBA Exhibition Round back in January.

National Points Race leader Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) finished third.

The final round featured an impressive collection of talent, including four state champions. Texas had two finalists – Lin and Karna Venkatraj of A&M Consolidated High School – the only state that had multiple participants in the final round.

Here are the results of the 2015 University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion: Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
2nd: Phoebe Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
3rd: Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
4th: Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy, Massachuetts)
5th: Jay Sirot (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
6th: Karna Venkatraj (A&M Consolidated High School, Texas)

Semi-Finalists

*Kendra Blandon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Jacob Levenson (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sanjay Supan (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Noah Weinflash (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Noah Wexler (Nova Senior High School, Florida)

Quarter-Finalists

*Alex Baikovitz (American Heritage School – Plantation, Florida)
*Eleanor Bock (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Lane Hedrick (Rowan County Senior High School, Kentucky)
*Andrew Langford (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Alejandra Larriva-Latt (San Marino High School, California)
*Christopher Mayer (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Giancarlo Musetti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Arjun Narayan (The Harker School, California)
*Vishal Narayanaswamy (James Madison Memorial High School, Wisconsin)
*Rupasri Shankar (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*McLean Stewart (Saint James School, Alabama)
*Bradley Wascher (Saint James School, Alabama)

Extemp Central thanks the University of Kentucky for posting the results of the tournament online.  It also thanks Bill Thompson for providing live updates from the tournament.