Two weeks ago in Washington, D.C. the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) held its first in-person national tournament since May 2019. #1 Daniel Kind of Lake Highland Preparatory (FL) won the national championship by eight cumulative ranks, thwarting #4 Ananth Veluvali‘s attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of the NCFL National Championship since 2011.
Kind’s victory is his first major championship, and it marks his seventh win at a National Points Race event this season. His win also clinches the National Points Race, the first time that title has been secured prior to NSDA Nationals in the competition’s history.
Veluvali, who competes for Edina High School, continued his impressive run in this year’s major championships. His runner-up finish at CFL goes with runner-up finishes at the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin and the Tournament of Champions of Extemporaneous Speaking this season.
Another Minnesotan joined Veluvali in the final round. That was Rhea Rajvansh of Eastview High School. Rajvansh finished two ranks behind Veluvali and took third.
#17 Mukta Dharmapurikar of Durham Academy (NC), a past winner of the Extemp TOC, reached the final round. She finished sixth after a three-way tie for fourth was broken between she and fourth place finisher Siri Ural of Shrewsbury High School (MA) and fifth place finisher Rishika Bansal of Scarsdale High School (NY).
Some notable finishers in elimination rounds included #23 Iesh Gujral of Eden Prairie High School (MN), who went out in semi-finals, and #19 Kevin Li of Ridge High School (NJ), who was knocked out in quarter-finals.
All of the elimination round participants will receive National Points Race points. All semi-finalists and finalists earn automatic qualifications to next year’s University of Kentucky TOC, and all those extempers who reached quarter-finals and beyond earn a bid leg to the 2023 Extemp TOC.
Here were the results of the 2022 National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
National Champion: Daniel Kind (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida)
2nd: Ananth Veluvali (Edina High School, Minnesota)
3rd: Rhea Rajvansh (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
4th: Siri Ural (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
5th: Rishika Bansal (Scarsdale High School, New York)
6th: Mukta Dharmapurikar (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
Semi-Finalists
*Melinda Deng (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Iesh Gujral (Eden Prairie High School, Minnesota)
*Amanda Hulver (North Allegheny Senior High School, Pennsylvania)
*Aidan Marks (Benilde Saint Margaret’s, Minnesota)
*Neha Modak (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
*Faye Zhang (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
Quarter-Finalists
*Vishnu Angiras (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*James Cullen (Chaminade High School, New York)
*Sam Drescher (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Jason Hu (Strath Haven High School, Pennsylvania)
*Diya Jain (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Grant Killoran (Marquette High School, Wisconsin)
*Kevin Li (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Chantal Ogbeifun (Republic High School, Missouri)
*Yotam Pe’er (Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School, New York)
*Rithika Prasad (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Tyler Tjan (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
*Chloe Yang (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
Octa-Finalists
*Sebastian Barnes (La Salle High School, Pennsylvania)
*Miles Brown (Pine-Richland High School, Pennsylvania)
*Taylor Burris (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Zoe Davin (Huntington High School, West Virginia)
*Daniel Deeney (St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Pennsylvania)
*Sean Fay (Catholic Memorial School, Massachusetts)
*Preston Ferraiuolo (Regis High School, New York)
*Stephen Frank (Whitmer High School, Ohio)
*Harrison Gover (Bowling Green High School, Kentucky)
*Aidan Healy (Catholic Memorial School, Massachusetts)
*Matthew Hrehocik (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Saathvik Kannan (Hickman High School, Missouri)
*Rushikesh Kulkarni (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Samarth Nagaraj (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Nitya Nalamothu (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Allison Nathan (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Elisabeth Nielsen (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Cierra Phillips (Rosemount High School, Minnesota)
*Andrew Puthumana (Rockhurst High School, Missouri)
*Jude Rost (Oak Grove High School, Mississippi)
*Anjali Schoetz (Scarsdale High School, Minnesota)
*Cameron Weber (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Karam Weigert (Jackson-Reed High School, Washington, D.C.)
*Kevin Zheng (Stuyvesant High School, New York)
Extemp Central thanks the National Catholic Forensic League for putting the results of the tournament online.