Two weekends ago, sixty-nine competitors descended on the University of Florida for the thirty-ninth annual Florida Blue Key. Only one was ranked in the National Points Race, which opened the door for new extempers to enter this year’s rankings.
In a final round that featured competitors from five states, Jack Ververis of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) eked out a one-rank win over Raghav Ramki of Plano East Senior High School (TX).
Five ranks behind was Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA), who finished third, and seven ranks behind Ververis was fourth place finisher Siddharth Sudhakar of Nova High School (FL).
Connor Hise of Denver East High School (CO) and Taylor Burris of the Potomac School (VA) tied for fifth place but Hise won a tiebreaker on reciprocals.
UK National Season Opener winner #6 Charlotte Reitman of the University School (FL) reached the semi-final round, just short of adding points to her National Points Race total.
Since Blue Key was a fifth tier tournament, the Ververis will receive forty points for his win. All finalists will recieve points and, since none were ranked, it will not lead to a sizeable shakeup in the rankings.
For Tournament of Champions (TOC) bids, Blue Key traditionally awards an Extemp TOC bid for all quarter-finalists, while the University of Kentucky TOC is awarding bids this season for all semi-finalists and finalists.
Here were the results of the 2022 Florida Blue Key (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Jack Ververis (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
2nd: Raghav Ramki (Plano East Senior High School, Texas)
3rd: Brandon Cheng (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
4th: Siddharth Sudhakar (Nova High School, Florida)
5th: Connor Hise (Denver East High School, Colorado)
6th: Taylor Burris (The Potomac School, Virginia)
Semi-Finalists
*Sydney Carroll (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*Charlotte Reitman (The University School, Florida)
*Ece Sarioglu (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Eli Seiden (Western High School, Florida)
*Abigail Woldgebriel (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Elizabeth Wong (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
Quarter-Finalists
*Mansi Arora (Nova High School, Florida)
*Daniel Go (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Max Goldberg (Park City High School, Utah)
*Benjamin Guettler (Bishop Moore Catholic High School, Florida)
*Aadish Kachhal (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Matthew Lombardi (Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Florida)
*Molly Malek (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Isabel Mestey-Colon (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sol Rivera (The Hawken School, Ohio)
*Sebastian Santana (Christopher Columbus High School, Florida)
*Jasmine Shone (The Hawken School, Ohio)
*Kalyan Toleti (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
Extemp Central thanks the University of Florida for putting the results of the tournament online.