First semester tournaments have been kind to National Points Race leader Daniel Kind of Lake Highland Preparatory School (FL) whose momentum continued at last weekend’s George Mason University Patriot Games, hosted in an online setting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kind won his fourth major national circuit event of the season – and third in a row – against a final round field that included three other top ten extempers, although none of those competitors finished second as unranked Olivia Wetzel of Whitmer High School (OH) took second place.
With the win, Kind becomes the first extemper from Florida to win the George Mason Patriot Games since 2015, when Nathaniel Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School captured the championship.
Dev Ahuja of Solon High School (OH), who came into George Mason ranked third, finished in that same position when the competition was over. George Mason is the third time this semester that Ahuja has reached the final round of a National Points Race event. Teammate Vikram Sundaram, who is ranked eighth in the nation, finished fifth.
Seventh ranked Marc Zavarro of Western High School (FL) also notched a third National Points Race final, finishing fifth.
Isabel Brittin of the Potomac School (VA) rounded out the final round with a sixth place finish.
George Mason counts as a third tier tournament in the National Points Race, so all competitors who reached the quarter-final round will earn points. All quarter-finalists will also receive a bid to the Extemp Tournament of Champions (TOC). Since the tournament attracted a smaller field than normal, with only forty-three competitors participating, all finalists will receive a bid to the University of Kentucky TOC.
Here are the results from the 2021 George Mason University Patriot Games (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Daniel Kind (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
2nd: Olivia Wetzel (Whitmer High School, Ohio)
3rd: Dev Ahuja (Solon High School, Ohio)
4th: Marc Zavarro (Western High School, Florida)
5th: Vikram Sundaram (Solon High School, Ohio)
6th: Isabel Brittin (The Potomac School, Virginia)
Semi-Finalists
*Cristian Carrillo (Western High School, Florida)
*Olivia Declercq (Whitmer High School, Ohio)
*Olivia Eads (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Nathan Mu (The University School, Ohio)
*Ashwin Rahalkar-Sasane (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Eli Seiden (Western High School, Florida)
Quarter-Finalists
*Raghad Al-Damook (Riverside High School, South Carolina)
*JR Cobb (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Noah Hess (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Zane Holley (Riverside High School, South Carolina)
*Maris James (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Kasim Khapra (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Audrey Lee (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Timmy Li (Buchholz High School, Florida)
*Ethan Maher (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Logan Mitchell (Martin County High School, Florida)
*Nitya Nalamothu (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Raghav Sahadevan (The University School, Ohio)
*Meredith Vorndran (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Lily Waehner (James River High School, Virginia)
*Emily Zhang (Capitol Debate)
Extemp Central thanks George Mason University for putting the results of the tournament online.