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Two months ago, Harvard University held its 42nd edition of its National Forensics Tournament. Katherine Hu of Plano Senior High School (TX) was the winner, achieving a five rank victory after taking three of the five available first place ranks in the final round. Marshall Sloane of Milton Academy (MA) finished in second place, continuing an impressive second semester string of showings in National Points Race tournaments. Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin winner Vaikunth Balaji of Ridge High School (NJ) finished third.
Hu’s victory makes her the first Texas extemper since at least 2000 to win Harvard. She also becomes the second female winner of the tournament in the last five years, as Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School won the tournament in 2012.
Since Harvard is a second tier tournament in the National Points Race, Hu will earn 150 points for her victory. National Points Race leader Justin Graham of Trinity Preparation School (FL) saw his attempt to defend his title end in the preliminary rounds due to a sixth place rank in the second round. All of the competitors that reached elimination rounds earned National Points Race points.
Here are the results of the 2016 Harvard University National High School Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Katherine Hu (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
2nd: Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
3rd: Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
4th: Samhitha Sunkara (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
5th: Christopher Mayer (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
6th: Zach Kapner (Scarsdale High School, New York)
Semi-Finalists
*Charlie Barton (Regis High School, New York)
*Jacob Beedle (Salem High School-Salem, Virginia)
*Micah Cash (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Alexander Hirsch (Stuysvesant High School, New York)
*Isaac Jacobson (The Hawken School, Ohio)
*Shawn Kant (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
Quarter-Finalists
*Varun Bhatia (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Rahul Chopra (Concord Carlisle High School, Massachusetts)
*Marshall Feingold (Syosset High School, New York)
*Hari Kumar (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Quinn Kupec (Moorhead Senior High School, Minnesota)
*Rushabh Mehta (Syosset High School, New York)
*James Rao (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Roman Shemakov (McClintock High School, Arizona)
*Olivia Shoemaker (Lakeville North High School, Minnesota)
*Michael Wang (Dreyfoos School for the Arts, Florida)
*Winston Ye (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
Octo-Finalists
*Aidan S. Bassett (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Laura Belec (Blaine High School, Minnesota)
*Paul Bousquet (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*Ben Carry (Pine View School, Florida)
*Aaron Chen (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Justin Cooper (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Kirsten Ebenezer (Berkeley Carroll School, New York)
*Daanyal Farooqi (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Olivia Feucht (Teurlings Catholic High School, Louisiana)
*Jackson Freeman (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Katherine Fugate (McDowell High School, Pennsylvania)
*Michael Gao (Law Magnet High School, Texas)
*Clare Halsey (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Brent Hauck (Lakeville North High School, Minnesota)
*John Hilst (Blaine High School, Minnesota)
*Justin Kang (Syosset High School, New York)
*Nathan Kruse (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*Jason Ma (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Collin Montag (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Daniel O’Neill (Chaminade High School, New York)
*Aaron Patel (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Harley Pierce-Ramsdell (Blaine High School, Minnesota)
*Sana Rahman (Pine View School, Florida)
*Adiyta Ramachandrababu (Natick High School, Massachusetts)
*Vighnesh Ramesh (Mason High School, Ohio)
*Keshav Rastogi (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Tom Rollins (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Kshitiz Singh (Desert Vista High School, Arizona)
Extemp Central thanks Harvard University for posting the results online and Brian Yu for providing us with updates.