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There are two more rounds to go at the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin before competition ends for the evening. The topic area for this round is international economics.
Category: MBA Coverage Page 3 of 9
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Here is the annual wacky graph at the MBA Round Robin. Each line represents a competitor during the tournament. Lines that are straight illustrate a competitor holding their rank and position. Lines that go down are illustrating a competitor moving up in ranking (e.g. going from fifth to third). Lines going the opposite direction illustrate a competitor moving down in ranking (e.g. going from third to fifth). Competitors do not know their lines, so it leads to much correct (and incorrect) speculation about who is who at this point in the tournament. Do you know the line of the competitor you are rooting for?
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We are halfway through the competition at the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin in Nashville, Tennessee. Competitors have three rounds remaining in the day and the next round will be a domestic round, with the focus on President Obama and his administration.
Last round’s experimental topic concerned the Sochi Olympics. Extempers had two fake news stories to read discussing a new terrorist attack in Russia and the disaffection in the Russian military and then had to use that information to inform their approach to one of four questions they could select on various approaches toward the Sochi Olympics, which involved moving them to Vancouver, a Western boycott of the Olympic Games, whether Vladimir Putin should meet a series of Western demands about human rights in order to get security assistance, and whether the Olympic Games should be cancelled. There will be one more experimental round in the tournament that will be domestic in nature.
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Lunch is over and the rounds have resumed at this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin. This round features the first of two experimental rounds, where extempers handle topics and questions that are unconventional. The exact nature of this year’s experimental round will be revealed in the next round’s pairings since competitors are unaware of what it will entail before they do their draw for the coming round.
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Round four draw has just started and after this round competitors will have a lunch break until 1:00, when draw for the next round will begin. After lunch, competitors will have four consecutive rounds before ending competition for the evening.
The topic area for this round is U.S. economics.
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Round three draw is about to get underway as we kick off day two of the 2014 Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin. Extempers will compete in a grueling six rounds of competition today, so today is very important for extempers looking to gain and hold position for the last two rounds tomorrow. Luckily, all of the competitors made it to Nashville in spite of the weather, although that did not carry over to some nationally recognized critics that usually come to the tournament like Dr. Steve Moss.
The topic area for this round is American foreign policy.
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Draw has begun for round two, which is the last round of the day. Competition will resume tomorrow at 8:30 a.m., with draw beginning at 8:00 a.m.
The topic area for this round is election 2014.
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Draw has begun for the first round of this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin. Competitors will have two rounds tonight and the first round will run from 6:40-7:40 p.m. Draw for the next round will take place at 7:50 p.m.
The topic area for this round is international relations.
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For those who plan on following our live coverage of this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin, here is the schedule for this week’s tournament. The tournament will take place starting tomorrow evening and run through late Sunday afternoon. The tournament will feature ten rounds of competition, with four rooms of four competitors. Each round will have three judges and will feature three minute cross examination.
Our live coverage will provide the postings for the rounds, the topic areas for each round, the announcement of Exhibition Round participants, and the results of the tournament. We will try to be as prompt as possible when putting the pairings online.
The first two days of the tournament will take place on Montgomery Bell’s campus and the last day of the tournament will be held at the tournament hotel, the Nashville Airport Marriott.
Here is this year’s tournament schedule:
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Here is the second part of a two part piece that previews the sixteen extempers participating in the 2014 Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin next week in Nashville, Tennessee. You can read part one by clicking here.
The profiles of the sixteen extempers attending are listed in alphabetical order and today’s preview provides details about eight of the extempers in the field. These profiles are meant to illustrate the credentials of those extempers who made this year’s event.
Since Extemp Central did not do a National Points Race this season (although it will likely return next season), we used the rankings provided by debaterankings.com.
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Today and tomorrow Extemp Central will be providing detailed profiles of the sixteen extempers that have been invited to this season’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin. The MBA Extemp Round Robin is the season’s first “major” extemp tournament.
Just like last year, Extemp Central will provide live coverage of the event by providing pairings for rounds as well as Exhibition Round participants when they become available on Sunday afternoon. Results will also be provided after the tournament concludes.
The profiles of the sixteen extempers attending will be listed in alphabetical order and today’s preview provides details about eight of the extempers in the field. These profiles are meant to illustrate the credentials of those extempers who made this year’s event.
Since Extemp Central did not do a National Points Race this season (although it will likely return next season), we used the rankings provided by debaterankings.com.
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Adam Johnson, tournament director of the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin, also known as the Billy Tate Memorial Southern Bell Forum Extemporaneous Speaking Round Robin, has just released the field for this year’s tournament. The competition will take place on the campus of Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee over three days from January 3rd-5th and will feature sixteen of the best extempers in the country. This year’s field features five returning participants, three of which made last year’s Exhibition Round. The field also features six finalists from last year’s NFL National Tournament and includes the defending United States Extemp National Champion, Arel Rende of Booker T. Washington High School (OK).
Extempers are invited to compete based on their results at national circuit events since last year’s tournament and their performance at CFL and NFL Nationals. This year’s tournament will be the first held since the passing of Billy Tate, the head coach of Montgomery Bell Academy, National Forensic League Hall of Famer, and President of the NFL from 1998-2012.
Extemp Central will provide its annual live coverage of the event and will break down the field in the coming weeks. The Round Robin is the first “major” tournament on the extemp calendar and is the first leg of the Grand Slam of extemporaneous speaking, which includes MBA, the Extemp TOC, CFL Nationals, and NFL Nationals. Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) is the two-time defending champion and if she successfully defends her title she will tie Kevin Troy’s record for most career major titles with six. Troy, who competed for Eagan High School (MN), is the only extemper to win the Grand Slam. He accomplished that feat in 2005.
Here is this year’s field (* indicates returning participant):
*Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
*Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Rohan Dhoopar (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Jack Glaser (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Jad Hamdan (Jackson High School, Ohio)*
*Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)*
*Christopher Jordan (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Lyubov Kapko (Tempe Preparatory, Arizona)
*Davis Larkin (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
*Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)*
*Jasper Primack (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Arel Rende (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)*
*Gabe Slater (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Will Walker (Fullerton Joint Union High School, California)
*Josh Wartel (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)*
This year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin saw the field reduced back to its original size of sixteen competitors and when the tournament wrapped up today, Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School in Iowa successfully defended her Round Robin championship from last season and won the fourth major championship of her career. This is the first time in tournament history that a champion has successfully defend their title. Nellans defeated teammate Nathan Leys by one rank in a very competitive and close tournament. Nellans and Leys are the first teammates to take first and second in the fifteen year history of the Round Robin.
Despite losing a close battle in the tournament, Leys did capture the Exhibition Round championship with a speech about whether the Affordable Care Act would produce inflation in health care costs.
Here are the results of this year’s Round Robin:
Champion: Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
2nd: Nathan Leys (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
3rd: Isabelle Taft (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
4th: Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
5th: Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
6th (missing Exhibition Round by one rank): Josh Wartel (Lake Braddock High School, Virginia)
Exhibition Round Champion: Nathan Leys (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
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The Exhibition Round participants have been revealed at the 2013 MBA Extemp Round Robin. These five competitors represent the top five at this year’s tournament, although placings will be announced at awards. According to tournament director Adam Johnson, one rank separated first and second place and one rank separated fourth, fifth, and sixth places at this year’s tournament. This arguably makes this year’s competition one of the closest in recent memory.
The Exhibition Round will be judged by all of the competitors who did not make it into the top five. If there are ties, those will be broken by an MBA alumni panel consisting of two-time collegiate champion Jason Warren, NFL U.S. Extemp Champion Tyler Fabbri (’10), James Mohan, Aaron Lutkowitz, Shahid Ahmed, and Logan Scisco.
The Exhibition Round will begin at 2:20 p.m. CST and awards will occur shortly thereafter. We will post results very late this evening.
Here is the speaking order for the Exhibition Round:
*Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Nathan Leys (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
*Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Isabelle Taft (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
Extemp Central congratulates all participants on making the Exhibition Round.
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The tenth and final round of the Montgomery Bell Academy is underway. After this round there is a forty-five minute lunch break and the Exhibition Round participants will be announced at 1:35 p.m. CST. We will try to get you those pairings when they become available ASAP.