Extemp Central National Points Race

by Logan Scisco

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The first year of the Extemp Central National Points Race has nearly concluded, with the International and United States extemp tournaments at the NFL National tournament in Birmingham, Alabama being the last tournament that has to be entered.  This year has featured a collection of various winners from the extemp community, with Stacey Chen of North Allegheny Senior High School emerging as the dominant #1 in the rankings, holding that position for much of the year.

Since the last edition of The Ex Files, there has been a small shakeup in the top of the standings.  The Extemp Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University featured many extempers in the national points race and added some clarity to the standings.  The Catholic Forensic League (CFL) national tournament in Albany, New York had less “star power”, but did boost the fortunes of many trying to shore up a good finish for the end of the season.

As the last tournament of the year, the NFL national tournament is essentially “glory’s last shot” for extempers looking to finish their careers with either a national championship or a national finalist finish.  It is the culmination of a year’s worth of hard work and preparation.  Yet only two extempers will leave Birmingham with the opportunity to call themselves a national champion and only one extemper at the end of the tournament will be able to proclaim themselves as the winner of the first ever Extemp Central National Points Race.

Individual Standings

Here are the updating individual points standings as of May 29, 2009.  The top fifteen in the rankings, including ties, are listed below:

The biggest impact made on the rankings is by Alex Draime of Howland High School in Ohio.  His victory at the CFL national tournament, his third career national final appearance, gave him 150 points in the standings and put him in fourth place.

Stacey Chen’s victory at the Extemp Tournament of Champions, whose top three also featured the top three in the national points race, enlarged her lead by twenty-three points.  Chen, who has victories this year at Glenbrooks, Harvard, and now the TOC, is well positioned to emerge as the first national points race winner.  Matt Arons of Millburn High School in New Jersey was leapfrogged by Dillon Huff of Southlake Carroll High School after Huff beat Arons by judges preference for second place at the TOC.  Arons chances of winning the national points race are finished since he is not attending NFL, yet he ends the year with two notable victories at Yale and the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin.

Of all the top 15, only Huff has the opportunity to catch Chen at NFL.  Huff’s only national circuit victory has occurred at the International Extemp portion of the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitation.  Yet he also has a victory in the Exhibition Round at the MBA Extemp Round Robin, where he defeated Chen, Arons, Nick Cugini, and Evan Larson.  Huff also has a runner-up finish at the Barkley Forum and the TOC, which has allowed him to prevent Chen from clinching the points race prior to NFL.

The simplified clinching scenario for NFL is as follows:  If Chen finishes fourth or better in International Extemp, then she clinches the national points race.  If Huff wins International Extemp and Chen finishes less than fourth (assuming they both make the final round) then Huff would be the national points winner.  If Huff fails to make the final round, Chen wins the national points race.  If Chen fails to make the final round, Huff needs to place third or better to win it.  Since there are twenty-five bonus points allotted to the final round winner, if Chen fails to make the final round, Huff can overcome her if he finishes fifth or better and wins the final round.

Other movers in the standings lately include Phil Gillen of Regis High School, a finalist earlier in the year at the Barkley Forum, who placed third at the CFL national tournament.  John Lisman, who finished behind Draime at the CFL national tournament, enters the standings in eighth place.  Jane Kessner of Walt Whitman High School moves from thirteenth to tenth following a semi-final finish at CFL and Amanda Johnson of Eagan High School cracks the top fifteen for the first time this season after a fourth place finish at the Extemp TOC.  John Mern of J.P. Talaverra High School and Audrey Denis of the Berkeley Carroll School also enter the top fifteen following their fourth and fifth place finishes, respectively, at CFL.

Team Standings:

Here are the updated team points race standings as of May 29, 2009.  The top ten in the standings, including ties, are listed below:

Propelled by Stacey Chen’s success this season, North Allegheny Senior High School continues to hold the national team points race lead.  Carroll High School and Millburn High School have tried to catch up for much of the season, led by Dillon Huff and Matt Arons, but have been unable to overtake her so far.  Carroll High School has had a wider range of contributions from other individuals than North Allegheny and Millburn, but has been unable to overtake the lead in the second semester.

Howland High School, who had two finalists at CFL, Alex Draime and Manish Mehta (who placed sixth), has vaulted into the fourth place spot.  With a performance similar to their showing at NFL, it is possible that Howland could end up the winner of the national team points race, although there is no shot of Draime or Mehta of winning it on the individual side.

Regis High School moves back into the top ten in the standings after Phil Gillen placed third at CFL and E.L. Myers High School debuts in the top ten following John Lisman’s runner-up finish at CFL.  Newton South High School is able to retain their position in the top ten after Luckmini Liyanage semi-finaled at CFL, earning the team twenty-five points.

Due to a lack of data concerning team entries at the NFL tournament, it is hard to provide as definitive a prediction of how the national team points race could turn out.  However, a victory by Chen at NFL do a lot to put the national team points race championship in North Allegheny’s pocket.

Tournament Overview

Here is an overview of the tournaments that will count for this year’s competitive calendar towards the Extemp Central National Points Race, how many points each tournament will be worth, and who the big winners have been so far.