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The Harvard National High School Invitational Forensic Tournament lived up to its billing as the largest national circuit tournament in the nation last weekend when it hosted 274 extempers on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The tournament offered a very diverse and competitive field, featuring twelve TOC qualifying tournament champions and several national finalists. The final round had four of the top five finishers from this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin and the top five finishers at this year’s tournament won TOC qualifying tournaments on the national circuit this season.
Arel Rende of Booker T. Washington High School (OK), the reigning NFL National Champion in United States Extemporaneous Speaking, won this year’s tournament and denied Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) the historic opportunity to repeat as Harvard champion. Rende did not take a first place rank in the final round, but his consistency among the five-judge panel with a 2-2-2-3-3 composite was enough for a one-rank victory over Nellans, who went 1-1-2-4-5 in the final. Miles Saffran of Trinity Prepartory School (FL), a winner of four TOC qualifying tournaments this season, had a feast-or-famine final round, as he took three first place ranks, but also took two sixth place ranks, which caused him to finish third. Rende’s victory is his fourth TOC qualifying tournament championship of the season and it is the second time this season that he has kept Nellans from repeating as tournament champion at an event on the national circuit. Rende did the same thing in the United States Extemp category at St. Mark’s in October. Trinity Preparatory School had two finalists, which is an amazing feat considering the size and diversity of this year’s tournament.
The tournament broke to a double octo-final round, meaning that ninety-six extempers participated in the tournament’s elimination rounds. Fifteenn extempers – Talha Ahsan of Eagan High School (MN), Josh Carney of Newton South High School (MA), Maleeha Chida of Scarsdale High School (NY), William Cook of Southlake Carroll Senior High School (TX), Mohica Coscia of Montville Township High School (NJ), Addie Glickstien of Denver East High School (CO), Cody Jones of Lakeville North High School (MN), Shawn Kant and Avni Mahagaoker of Ridge High School (NJ), Christopher Lee of Regis High School (NY), Priya Patel of Foster High School (TX), Naba Rahman of Pine View School (FL), Mark Rinder of Freehold Township High School (NJ), Raj Viswaprabakaran of Plano Senior High School (TX), and Meghan Weston of Fullerton Joint Union High School (CA) – completed their at-large TOC qualification and eighteen other extempers earned their first qualifying leg. Those who earned a qualifying leg at Harvard are indicated in italics below.
This weekend will feature the last two at-large qualifying tournaments for this year’s TOC. The Robert D. Clark Invitational will be held on the University of Oregon’s campus in Eugene, Oregon and Salina High Central in Salina, Kansas will host its annual Salina High Central Invitational. There will also be automatic qualification opportunities for the finalists of state tournaments in Kentucky and Illinois.
Here are the results of the 2014 Harvard National High School Invitational Forensic Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
Connor Fitzgibbon of Unionville Area High School (PA) defeated Sejal Waghray of Ridge High School (NJ) by one rank to win this year’s University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic, which was held last weekend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fitzgibbon lost the final round to Waghray, but the cumulative nature of the tournament helped him hold on and prevail sixteen ranks to seventeen. Waghray’s teammate, Cameron Montag, took third. Fitzgibbon’s victory gives Pennsylvania extempers back-to-back victories at their home tournament. In last year’s event, James DeMarshall of St. Joseph’s Preparatory School (PA) ended a seven year stretch where out-of-state extempers won the tournament.
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On Saturday, Apple Valley High School played host to the third Minnesota-based Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifying tournament in as many weeks and sixty extempers competed for the tournament title. Dylan Adelman of Lakeville South High School (MN), a former teammate of three-time national champion Dylan Slinger and seventh place finisher at last year’s NFL National Tournament in International Extemp, handed Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) her third straight defeat on Minnesota turf and claimed his first TOC qualifier tournament title of the season. Adelman defeated Nellans by one rank, which marks the third consecutive week that Nellans has lost to a Minnesota extemper by that margin. Each of her defeats was to a different Minnesota competitor and in each tournament she competed in over this three week span she defeated the tournament champion from the previous week. In this tournament, she defeated Adam Stromme of Eagan High School (MN), who placed third. Stromme beat Nellans last week at the Schwan’s Speech Spectacular.
Last weekend Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania hosted its eleventh annual Pennsbury Falcon Invitational. The tournament has been an Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifier for the last several seasons and the tournament is the second to last qualifier stationed on the East Coast for the 2013-2014 season. Emmalie Langan of EL Meyers High School (PA) bested thirty-nine other extempers to win the tournament championship and became the seventh female extemper to win a TOC qualifying tournament this season. Langan defeated Collin Quigley of Holy Ghost Preparatory (PA), who qualified to this year’s TOC last week by semi-finaling at the Columbia Invitational, by three ranks in the final round. Delbarton High School (NJ) had two finalists – Thomas Abel and Abhinav Karale – who placed third and fourth, respectively.
Fifty-two extempers arrived on the campus of Columbia University in New York City last weekend for the annual Columbia Invitational. George Mason University Patriot Games Champion Jasper Primack of Newton South High School (MA) netted his second TOC qualifying tournament victory of the season in dominating fashion, winning by thirteen ranks with a cumulative score of fifteen. Graham Piro of Iona Preparatory School (NY) took second. Last year’s Columbia champion, Gabe Ferrante, went on to win the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand National Tournament, so one wonders if the tournament will have a correct prognostication for the second straight year.
The state of Minnesota played host to its second 2014 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifier in as many weeks as Marshall High School and Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota played host to the annual Schwan’s Speech Spectacular. The tournament typically attracts a strong Midwest field and this year forty-two extempers competed in the varsity division. Adam Stromme of Eagan High School (MN) claimed his second TOC qualifying tournament title of the season by one rank in the final round over Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA). Stromme, an NFL finalist last year in United States Extemp and winner of the Dowling Catholic Paradigm in December, and Nellans ended the tournament with the same cumulative total of seventeen ranks, but Stromme bested Nellans in the final to break the tie. This is the second consecutive runner-up finish at a Minnesota TOC qualifier for Nellans, who narrowly lost last week to Haley Brahmbhatt of Chanhassen High School (MN) at the Chanhassen Speech Tournament. Brahmbhatt made the final of the Schwan’s as well and placed fifth. Montgomery Bell Academy participant Jack Glaser of George Washington High School (CO) was also in the final round and took sixth.
James Logan High School in Union City, California, one of the most successful forensic programs in the country, usually spends Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend hosting its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational and this year was no exception. The tournament usually attracts a large field of the best programs in California and neighboring states and this year’s tournament did not disappoint as 107 extempers entered the United States Extemp portion of the tournament and sixty-nine extempers entered International Extemp. The tournament was cumulative and an extempers ranks followed them from prelims to finals, with the extemper having the lowest rank total winning the tournament.
While the polar vortex brought cold temperatures to much of the country, sixty-eight extempers competed in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, Florida for this year’s Sunvitational. Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), coming off the heels of a third place finish at the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin two weeks ago, cruised to a dominating ten rank victory in the cumulative tournament that functioned as a small preview of the Extemp Tournament of Champions (TOC), since seventeen of the twenty-four elimination round participants had already qualified to this year’s TOC. The victory is Saffran’s fourth at a TOC qualifying tournament this season. Noah Wexler of Nova High School (FL), who won the Crestian Tradition in October, took second and Richard Diubra of Millard West High School (NE) took third. Trinity Preparatory School had six elimination round participants, which was more than any other program at the tournament.
Thirty-five extempers competed at Dowling Catholic High School in Dowling, Iowa for the Dowling Catholic Paradigm last weekend. The tournament was an Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifier and is traditionally the largest tournament in the state of Iowa. Adam Stromme of Eagan High School (MN), who finished fourth at last year’s NFL National Tournament in United States Extemp, won the tournament by four ranks over teammate Talha Ahsan. Stromme took two of the three first places ranks available in the final round. Richard Diurba of Millard West High School (NE) was the third place finisher.
It was a busy week for TOC qualifying tournaments and the University of Texas Longhorn Classic provided a southern qualifying tournament for those seeking qualifications to the 2014 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC). While George Mason University’s Patriot Games Tournament receives the most attention on the first weekend of December, the Longhorn Classic has typically been considered one of the premier tournaments to earn consideration for a bid to the Mongtomery Bell Extemp Round Robin in Nashville, Tennessee. The tournament allowed extempers to compete in United States and International Extemp and Arel Rende of Booker T. Washington High School (OK) took both championships. Rende is the defending NFL national champion in United States Extemp and his two championships at the University of Texas give him three wins at major Texas tournaments this year, as he took the U.S. Extemp title at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational in October. Cosmo Albrecht of Robert E. Lee High School (TX) took second to Rende in both halves of the tournament.