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According to Extemp Central’s unofficial calculations, 242 extempers competed in International Extemp and 252 extempers competed in United States Extemp at this year’s National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah. The fields of both categories have now been reduced to sixty for the tournament’s octo-final rounds. An announcement of the thirty extempers in each event that cleared to quarter-finals will be made later this evening.
The biggest news from the first break is that Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), who is competing in International Extemp, has clinched the 2015-2016 National Points Race by virtue of clearing to the octo-final round. Graham was joined in the International Extemp break by other National Points Race notables such as Vaikunth Balaji of Ridge High School (NJ), Marshall Sloane of Milton Academy (MA), and Samhitha Sunkara of Ardrey Kell High School (NC).
In United States Extemp, two of last year’s finalists remain alive as Shawn Kant of Ridge High School (NJ) and Marshall Webb of Saint Mary’s Hall (TX) advanced. They have significant company in the field, though, as Extemp TOC Champion Brian Xu of San Marino High School (CA) is competing in the category, as are other major competitors of the national circuit such as Micah Cash of Booker T. Washington High School (OK), Harvard winner Katherine Hu of Plano Senior High School (TX), Jacob Thompson of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA), Neil Patel of Plano West Senior High School (TX), and Nathaniel Saffran of Trinity Preparatory.
International Extemp will receive the bonus for the National Points Race at this year’s NSDA National Tournament as well, as more extempers in the top twenty-five are competing in that category.
There were quite a few underclassmen – fifty-eight in total – that qualified for elimination rounds at this year’s nationals. Thirty-three underclassmen cleared in International Extemp and twenty-five cleared in United States Extemp. They are highlighted in blue below.
Competitors that are currently ranked in the National Points Race have their ranking designated by their name. A competitor without this designation was unranked before NSDA Nationals. All of the competitors that made octofinals will receive National Points Race points.
International Extemp
*Ross Abram (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*(T99) Zan Ahmed (Syosset High School, New York)
*Arslan Ali (Blue Valley High School, Kansas)
*(T70) Karisa Anand (Sierra Canyon School, California)
*Chinmay Bakshi (Mason High School, Ohio)
*(2) Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*(24) Charlie Barton (Regis High School, New York)
*(T72) Kendra Blandon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Eleanor Bock (Nova High School, Florida)
*(T58) Vinay Bodapati (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Wyatt Brown (Moore High School, Oklahoma)
*Ani Chalian (Normal Community West High School, Illinois)
*(T103) Austin Chen (Monte Vista High School, California)
*Tim Chung (Gabrielino High School, California)
*Max Davidson (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Dody Elnaas (Columbiana High School, Ohio)
*(T103) Gregory Fedorov (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Jason Fisher (Highlands Ranch High School, Colorado)
*Liam Frolund (Turlock High School, California)
*Kendall Gardner (Fishers High School, Indiana)
*Alexander Gasman (ILEAD North Hollywood, California)
*(1) Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Ruthvik Gundala (Desert Vista High School, Arizona)
*Christian Hansen (Blue Valley High School, Kansas)
*(25) Jarrek Holmes (Kent Denver School, Colorado)
*Austin Jang (Union High School, Washington)
*Alexander Kan (Canfield High School, Ohio)
*(T103) Megan Kline (El Dorado High School, Kansas)
*(38) Nathan Kruse (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*(17) Andrew Langford (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida)
*(T58) Sarah Lanier (Northland Christian School, Texas)
*Noah Lee (Cumberland Valley High School, Pennsylvania)
*Jason Ma (Gabrielino High School, California)
*(16) Christopher Mayer (Montville High School, New Jersey)
*(T141) Collin Montag (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Oluwakamiye Obaro (Millard West High School, Nebraska)
*Clay Owens (Perry High School, Ohio)
*(T48) Aaron A. Patel (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Jay Patel (Belton High School, Missouri)
*Stefan Petrovic (Lawrence High School, Kansas)
*(T72) Arian Raje (Saratoga High School, California)
*Nikhil Ramaswamy (Jasper High School, Texas)
*(T88) James D. Rao (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*(T141) Keshav Rastogi (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Connor Rothschild (Kickapoo High School, Missouri)
*Samuel Sanchez (Neosho High School, Missouri)
*(46) Christian Sayers (Valparaiso High School, Indiana)
*Maxwell Schleck (Edina High School, Minnesota)
*(T88) Roman Shemakov (McClintock High School, Arizona)
*(20) Olivia Shoemaker (Lakeville North High School, Minnesota)
*(42) Shreetika Singh (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*(3) Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
*Charles Stark (Downers Grove North High School, Illinois)
*(7) Samhitha Sunkara (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
*Abram Turner (Lincoln Southeast High School, Nebraska)
*(T103) Divya Vijaykumar (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Kenneth Logan Williams (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
*(T35) Jack Yan (Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Florida)
*(T35) Alicia Zhang (East Ridge High School, Minnesota)
*(23) Matthew Zheng (Mira Loma High School, California)
United States Extemp
*(57) Aaron Lundin Baum (Miramonte High School, California)
*(21) Jack Beedle (Salem High School, Virginia)
*Joan Bentz (Neosho High School, Missouri)
*(14) Varun Bhatia (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*(T48) Paul Bousquet (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*(T103) William Brodnar (Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches, Florida)
*Daniel Brophy (Downers Grove North High School, Illinois)
*(T72) Spencer Buckner (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
*(62) Sam Buisman (Chanhassen High School, Minnesota)
*(T72) Madison Buzzard (Webb City High School, Missouri)
*(13) Micah Cash (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Carolyn Chun (Hinsdale Central High School, Illinois)
*Lauren David (Fishers High School, Indiana)
*Kate Farwell (ILEAD North Hollywood, California)
*Andrew F. Figueiredo (Wichita East High School, Kansas)
*Jake Glass (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Mary Grace Gorman (Wooster High School, Ohio)
*(32) Nick Guiliano (Holy Ghost Preparatory, Pennsylvania)
*(T88) Clare Halsey (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Maureen Haynes (Union High School, Oklahoma)
*(11) Katherine Hu (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*(29) Shawn Kant (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*(28) Zach Kapner (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*(T88) Hari Kumar (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*William Kunkle (Schurr High School, California)
*(T88) Quinn Kupec (Moorehead High School, Minnesota)
*Zoe Lawson (Francis Howell North High School, Missouri)
*(T103) Brian Levy (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*(T103) John Thornton Lindsey (Montgomery High School, Texas)
*(47) Jason Yecheng Ma (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Gracie Mahoney (St. Agnes Academy, Texas)
*Corwin Marcum (New Castle High School, Indiana)
*Christopher Maximos (The Delbarton School, New Jersey)
*Nathan McClendon (Manhattan High School, Kansas)
*Chase Miller (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Madison Morrissette (Millard North High School, Nebraska)
*Sanjaye Narayan (Gabrielino High School, California)
*(39) Ryan Olson (Monte Vista High School, California)
*(15) Neil Patel (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*William Porter (Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona)
*Dylan Powers (Smoky Hill High School, Colorado)
*(41) Thomas Rollins (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*(4) Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*(T72) Anton Salem (Hawken School, Ohio)
*Ajay Saraf (Mason High School, Ohio)
*Jessica Shattuck (Snohomish High School, Washington)
*Freia Siegel (Centennial High School, Colorado)
*Shreyas Sonbarse (Eden Prairie High School, Minnesota)
*Abhishek Srinivas (Stockdale High School, California)
*Vishal Sundaram (Solon High School, Ohio)
*(9) Jacob Thompson (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
*(T72) Alexander L. Trobough (Sumner Academy, Kansas)
*Kyle Wang (Saratoga High School, California)
*(T48) Michael Wang (Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Florida)
*(5) Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
*Amanda Wheelock (Norman High School, Oklahoma)
*Parker Whitfill (Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona)
*Matthew Wylie (Norman North High School, Oklahoma)
*(6) Brian Xu (San Marino High School, California)
*Brandon Yu (ILEAD North Hollywood, California)
Extemp Central congratulates all of the above extempers and their coaches.