63 extempers, mostly from the Northeast, entered the 54th edition of the New York City Invitational last weekend in New York City. The Bronx High School of Science hosted the event.

The tournament ended with a final round clash of defending national champions. Tea Shouldice of Half Hollow Hills High School East (NY), the defending National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) national champion in United States Extemp, defeated the defending NSDA International Extemp champion Anthony Babu of Concord-Carlisle High School (NY) by one rank. Shouldice and Babu each won two first place ranks among the five judge panel in finals and Babu won the final round by one rank. However, due to the tournament’s cumulative nature through preliminary rounds Shouldice was declared the winner.

Al Zaidi of Holy Trinity Episcopal School (FL), a semi-finalist at Yale, placed third. Zaidi finished five ranks back of Shouldice.

The only sophomore in the final round, Daphne Kalir-Starr of the College Preparatory School (CA), also a Yale semi-finalist, finished fourth. Kalir-Starr took the one first place rank in the final round that was not won by Shouldice and Babu, needing it to win a tiebreaker over Aparna Iyer of Ridge High School (NJ). Iyer was in their second National Points Race final of the year after finishing third at Yale.

Kai Forbach of Durham Academy (NC) finished sixth.

The tournament was a fifth tier event in the National Points Race so only those extempers who reached the final round will earn points. Shouldice will earn 40 points for her win. The first National Points Race standings of the season will be posted tomorrow evening.

Here are the results of the 2024 New York City Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion: Tea Shouldice (Half Hollow Hills High School East, New York)
2nd: Anthony Babu (Concord-Carlisle High School, New York)
3rd: Al Zaidi (Holy Trinity Episcopal School, Florida)
4th: Daphne Kalir-Starr (The College Preparatory School, California)
5th: Aparna Iyer (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
6th: Kai Forbach (Durham Academy, North Carolina)

Semi-Finalists

*Josef Bell (The Berkeley Carroll School, New York)
*Noah Berlin (Half Hollow Hills High School East, New York)
*Noori Choudhary (Unionville Area High School, Pennsylvania)
*Sebastian Cunto (Regis High School, New York)
*John Germak (Regis High School, New York)
*Grace Klausner (Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City, New York)
*Anish Mehta (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Manuela Mejia-Fanjul (Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City, New York)
*Kajal Parmar (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Henry Perduto (Regis High School, New York)
*Nathan Thomas (La Salle College Preparatory High School, Pennsylvania)
*Lexie Toshav (Isidore Newman School, Louisiana)
*Myles Vuong (Stuyvesant High School, New York)
*Madeline White (Gywnedd Mercy Academy High School, Pennsylvania)

Extemp Central thanks the Bronx High School of Science for posting the results of the tournament online.