Memorial Day weekend is the traditional home of the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL)’s Grand National Tournament and this year the event took place in Chicago.  More than 150 extempers made the trip.

When the dust settled on Sunday night, Nicholas Zylstra of Eastview High School (MN) won one of the closest national championships in recent memory, besting National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (TOC) winner Anwen Williams of Lawrence Free State High School (KS) in a final round tiebraker.

NCFL Nationals is tabulated by awarding an extemper a first, second, or third place rank based on how they finished in their octafinal, then quarter-final, and then semi-final round.  In the final round, each judge’s rank counts toward the cumulative score.  At the end of the competition Zylstra and Williams had a seventeen composite.  However, Zylstra was one rank ahead of Williams in a final round where no extemper earned more than one first place rank, becoming the fifth Minnesota extemper to win the NCFL national championship since 1997.  It is Eastview’s second NCFL extemp win since 1997 as Akshar Rambachan captured the title in 2008.

#23 Aparna Iyer of Ridge High School (NJ) was the only ranked extemper to make the final round, finishing two ranks back of Zylstra and Williams in third place.  If Iyer had won it would have given Ridge High School back-to-back champions as Amy Cao won last year’s tournament.

Of all schools present, Ridge High School had the best showing in extemp, having a finalist, two semi-finalists, one quarter-finalist, and one octa-finalist.

Ivy Litton of Rowan County Senior High School (KY) became the state’s first extemp national finalist in a decade, finishing fourth.  Litton was followed by Grace Klausner of the Convent of the Sacred Heart – New York City (NY) and Claire Han of Munster High School (IN).

Han was a semi-finalist at last year’s tournament.  She and Klausner tied for fifth place and tied in the final round so a judges’ preference tiebreak had to be utilized.

Vasu Lakshmanan of Shrewsbury High School (MA), who finished fifth in last year’s tournament, was unable to get back to the final round but reached semi-finals.

National Points Race leader Daphne Kalir-Starr of the College Preparatory School (CA) did not attend the tournament.  However, #2 Robert Zhang of Elkins High School (TX) did and reached semi-finals, which will be enough for him to regain the lead before the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament.

Finishes among the top 25 at this year’s NCFL include quarter-finalist placings for #5 Anthony Babu of Concord-Carlisle High School (MA), #9 Al Zaidi of Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy (FL), #12 Tea Shouldice of Half Hollow Hills East High School (NY), and #18 Kajal Parmar of Cary Academy (NC).  #10 Sahana Srikanth of Mason High School (OH) was eliminated in octa-finals.

Here are the results of the 2025 National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion:  Nicholas Zylstra (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
2nd:  Anwen Williams (Lawrence Free State High School, Kansas)
3rd:  Aparna Iyer (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
4th:  Ivy Litton (Rowan County Senior High School, Kentucky)
5th:  Grace Klausner (Convent of the Sacred Heart – New York City, New York)
6th:  Claire Han (Munster High School, Indiana)

Semi-Finalists

*Shresta Antil (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Noori Choudhary (Unionville High School, Pennsylvania)
*Kai Forbach (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Adalia Karda-Marok (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Vasu Lakshmanan (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Robert Zhang (Elkins High School, Texas)

Quarter-Finalists

*Anthony Babu (Concord-Carlisle High School, Massachusetts)
*Dominick Beck (The Delbarton School, New Jersey)
*Amedeo Bettauer (Brookline High School, Massachusetts)
*M.J. Chu (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Shriya Dharmapurikar (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Robert Liu Meng (Syosset High School, New York)
*Jessie Moss (The School Without Walls, Washington, D.C.)
*Kajal Parmar (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Vivek Rajdev (Khan Lab School, California)
*Tea Shouldice (Half Hollow Hills East High School, New York)
*Madeline White (Gwynedd Mercy Academy High School, Pennsylvania)
*Al Zaidi (Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, Florida)

Octa-Finalists

*Rayyan Alam (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Sophia Amundgaard (Stillwater Area High School, Minnesota)
*Aayan Behura (Rock Bridge High School, Missouri)
*Samantha Bessetti (McDowell High School, Pennsylvania)
*Mia Carpenter (Pine View School, Florida)
*Brandon Cheng (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Richard Colasonno (Chaminade High School, New York)
*John Germak (Regis High School, New York)
*Max Goldstein (Syosset High School, New York)
*Jasper He (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Victor He (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Daniela Holden (Berkeley Carroll School, New York)
*Vaishnavi Iyer (Shrewsbury High School, Masssachusetts)
*Arjun Kumar (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Grace Lynch (VJ & Angela Skutt Catholic High School, Nebraska)
*Ayush Makavana (Mason High Schoo, Ohio)
*Sebastian Martinez (Mt. SAC Early College Academy, California)
*Henry Perduto (Regis High School, New York)
*Rishi Prasanna (North Allegheny Senior High School, Pennsylvania)
*Ana Rubio-Calvillo (The Laurel School, Ohio)
*Sahaka Srikanth (Mason High School, Ohio)
*Tvisah Talwar (Wayzata High School, Minnesota)
*Ella Venzke (Stillwater Area High School, Minnesota)
*Jackson Woodward (Cumberland Polytechnic High School, North Carolina)

Extemp Central thanks the National Catholic Forensic League for posting the results online.