Last weekend Stanford University hosted its 37th Annual Stanford Invitational. Like last year, the event took place in a virtual environment but this year’s event kept the tournament’s traditional name. The tournament allowed extempers to dabble in International and United States Extemp because each category took place in different flights. 53 extempers entered the tournament in Varsity International Extemp and 60 extempers entered in Varsity United States Extemp.
In International Extemp, Aidan Marks of Benilde-St. Margaret’s (MN) narrowly defeated #2 Theodore Gercken of the College Preparatory School (CA) by two ranks in a split final round. Among the five finals judges, Marks took two first place ranks but a third place rank and two fourth place ranks. Gercken captured one first place rank but an errant sixth place rank doomed his overall composite score in what was his sixth National Points Race final round appearance of the season.
#10 Charlotte Reitman of the University School (FL) finished third after managing to get a first place rank and two second place ranks. But Reitman’s chances of winning the tournament were dashed by taking a fifth and sixth place rank.
Nathan Cai of Brophy College Preparatory (AZ) took the last remaining first place rank in the final round, also securing a second and third place rank. However, picking up a sixth place rank caused him to finish tied with Reitman and he lost a judges’ preference tiebreaker 4-1.
The last two finalists in International Extemp came from the Harker School (CA) as Joy Hu finished four ranks behind Cai for fifth. This was five ranks better than teammate Michelle Jin, who placed sixth.
In United States Extemp, the Harker School dominated. Jin and Hu reversed their fortunes from International Extemp, taking first and second place, respectively. Jin overcame a sixth place rank in finals after capturing two first place ranks, defeating Hu by two ranks.
Jin and Hu’s Harker teammates Gordy Sun and Kashish Priyam finished third and fourth. Sun and Priyam were making their second National Points Race final round appearances this season as Sun was a third place finisher in IX at the James Logan MLK last month and Priyam was the runner-up in USX there was well.
All of the Harker School’s extempers took every available first place rank in the USX final round.
Ali Malik of Monta Vista High School (CA) finished fifth in USX, one rank behind Priyam. Malik defeated Lakshya Chaudhry of Vancouver Debate Academy (Canada) on a judges’ preference tiebreaker 3-2.
There were several ranked competitors in the National Points Race that did not clear to the final round of IX or USX. #6 Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ) reached semi-finals in both categories, while #13 Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory (CA) reached the semi-final round of IX. IX runner-up Gercken also went out in the quarter-final round of USX.
All of the finalists will receive National Points Race points since Stanford was a fifth tier event. Jin and Hu will receive credit for their USX finishes instead of their IX finishes because they did better in USX. For their victories, Marks and Jin will receive 40 points.
With regards of TOC qualifications, all semi-finalists will receive a bid leg to the Extemp TOC at Northwestern University. All finalists receive a bid leg to the University of Kentucky TOC.
Here are the results of the 2023 Stanford Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):
International Extemp
Champion: Aidan Marks (Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Minnesota)
2nd: Theodore Gercken (The College Preparatory School, California)
3rd: Charlotte Reitman (The University School, Florida)
4th: Nathan Cai (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
5th: Joy Hu (The Harker School, California)
6th: Michelle Jin (The Harker School, California)
Semi-Finalists
*Matthew Abrahms (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Brandon Cheng (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Rayyan Hussain (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Mehana Kunapareddy (Tompkins High School, Texas)
*Kate Liu (Plano East Senior High School, Texas)
*Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
United States Extemp
Champion: Michelle Jin (The Harker School, California)
2nd: Joy Hu (The Harker School, California)
3rd: Gordy Sun (The Harker School, California)
4th: Kashish Priyam (The Harker School, California)
5th: Ali Malik (Monta Vista High School, California)
6th: Lakshya Chaudhry (Vancouver Debate Academy-Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Semi-Finalists
*Ethan Boneh (Palo Alto High School, California)
*Mehana Kunapareddy (Tompkins High School, Texas)
*Anirudh Mani (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Aidan Marks (Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Minnesota)
*Tej Patel (North Hollywood High School, California)
*Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
Quarter-Finalists
*Nathan Cai (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Theodore Gercken (The College Preparatory School, California)
*Krishiv Haranath (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Zane Hensley (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Julian Hong (Palo Alto High School, California)
*Connor Lam (Foothill High School, California)
*Kate Liu (Plano East Senior High School, Texas)
*Santiago Paul (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Olivia Tan (Westridge High School, California)
*Sofia Villagra (Gabrielino High School, California)
*Ella Witalec (The Laurel School, Ohio)
*Florence Zhu (Mission San Jose High School, California)
Extemp Central thanks Stanford University for putting the results of the tournament online.