2016 California Invitational: Zheng Wins First National Circuit Title of the Year; Levenson Wins Final Round and Takes Second

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This year’s National Points Race features the California Invitational as a third tier tournament and Matthew Zheng of Mira Loma High School (CA) seized the chance to move into the rankings by winning the tournament in February. Zheng took the title in the cumulative competition by three ranks, defeating Jacob Levenson of Nova High School (FL), although Levenson did win the tournament’s final round by one rank. Daniel Ginsburg of Miramonte High School (CA) finished in third place.

If Levenson had defeated Zheng he would have become the first non-Californian to win the tournament in eleven years.

As expected, California schools dominated the tournament, with twelve of the fifteen competitors that survived to the semi-finals and finals coming from the state. However, there were some notable names that made the trip to Berkeley. One of them was Glenbrooks winner Marshall Webb of Saint Mary’s Hall (TX), who finished in fifth place.

All of the competitors that reached the quarter-final round and beyond will earn National Points Race points. The new National Points Race standings will be released late Wednesday night.

Here are the results of the 2016 California Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion: Matthew Zheng (Mira Loma High School, California)
2nd: Jacob Levenson (Nova High School, Florida)
3rd: Daniel Ginsburg (Miramonte High School, California)
4th: Ryan Olson (Monte Vista High School, California)
5th: Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
6th: Aaron Baum (Miramonte High School, California)
7th: Tony Lin (Cuperinto High School, California)

Semi-Finalists

*Lilly Hackworth (Notre Dame High School, California)
*Benjamin Hoffner-Brodsky (Davis High School, California)
*Michelle Huang (Irvington High School, California)
*Alejandra Larriva-Latt (San Marino High School, California)
*Arian Raje (Saratoga High School, California)
*Christian Sayers (Valparaiso High School, Indiana)
*Bryan Wang (Miramonte High School, California)
*Amulya Yerrapotu (Archbishop Mitty High School, California)

Quarter-Finalists

*Karisa Anand (Sierra Canyon School, California)
*William Brodnar (Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches, Florida)
*Michael Chien (Arcadia High School, California)
*Amulya Donthi (James Logan High School, California)
*Gus Duran (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Robin Gallaher (Archbishop Mitty High School, California)
*Liam Glennie (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Jarrek Holmes (Kent Denver School, Colorado)
*Mirwais Omarkhil (James Logan High School, California)
*Allison Pennington (Northland Christian School, Texas)
*Matthew Plonskier (Cooper City High School, Florida)
*Atul Saha (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Micalyn Struble (College Preparatory, California)
*Andrew Talley (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Ken Tanaka (Leland High School, California)
*Jane Tullis (Valparaiso High School, Indiana)
*Thomas White (Lowell High School, California)

Octo-Finalists

*Mohammad Alam (North Hollywood High School, California)
*Ben Ashkenazi (Cupertino High School, California)
*Kian Bagherlee (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Reiss Becker (Windward High School, California)
*Alex Chin (The Nueva School, California)
*Cole Drew (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado)
*Kelsey England (Northland Christian School, Texas)
*Jose Francisco (St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Florida)
*Abhijeet Grewal (James Logan High School, California)
*Nandit Gurtu (Cupertino High School, California)
*Usman Hanif (Monte Vista High School, California)
*Bella Hung (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Isabel Jeronimo (Orosi High School, California)
*Joshua Joseph (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Asim Khan (Miramonte High School, California)
*Joseph Kiang (San Marino High School, California)
*Samika Kikkeri (Presentation High School, California)
*Lyna Kim (North Hollywood High School, California)
*Himanvi Kopuri (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado)
*Nishanth Krishnan (Torrey Pines High School, California)
*Sarah Lanier (Northland Christian School, Texas)
*Brian Levy (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Dylan Lough (Nova High School, Florida)
*Alex Luo (Leland High School, California)
*Ruchi Maheshwari (Saratoga High School, California)
*Anirudh Makineni (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Jessa Moomaw (Gig Harbor High School, Washington)
*Aaron Sergussi (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Shyan Shokrzadeh (Leland High School, California)
*Meilinda Sun (Cupertino High School, California)
*Kyle Wang (Saratoga High School, California)
*Alex Weissman (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Ethan Wu (Mira Loma High School, California)
*Jennifer Xiao (San Marino High School, California)

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