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The National Points Race is a season-long competition that seeks to identify the top extempers across a select group of prestigious national circuit events. Extemp Central recognizes that in some years the top extemper in the nation may not win the National Points Race due to the inability of some competitors to travel extensively. Still, four national champions are among the five previous National Points Race winners.
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Heading into Friday morning’s final rounds, three competitors remain alive in the 2014-2015 National Points Race competition: Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), Brian Anderson of LaRue County High School (KY), and Josh Wartel of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA). Graham and Anderson will be competing in the International Extemp final, while Wartel will be competing in the United States Extemp final.
In this article, what I have attempted to do is to lay out how many points reach competitor could earn based on certain finishes at the tournament and then explain scenarios that would allow each competitor to win the National Points Race. For Wartel, he can only position himself to win the National Points Race by finishing first or second in U.S. Extemp so those are the only placings listed for him. By each placing, the number of total National Points Race points a competitor would have at the end of the tournament based on that placing is shown by the placing number. For example, if Justin Graham were to finish first in IX then he would have a cumulative season total of 762 points. Since the winner of the IX final round will receive fifty points and the final round winner of USX will receive forty points, the number in parenthesis by the number of total points a competitor might earn by placing at a certain position is how many points that person would earn if they also won the final round. So for example, if Josh Wartel finishes first in U.S. Extemp and wins the final round he would have 639 points for the entire season. Although calculations are included for final round victories if a competitor places fourth, fifth, or sixth, it is highly unlikely that with the NSDA’s current setup of the final round counting for 25% of a competitor’s elimination round score that someone would win the final round and place that low. Still, it is included just in case something unpredictable happens.
There is one scenario that could produce a mathematical tie between Graham and Anderson. In the National Points Race, ties are broken with the following criteria (in order of importance): number of wins, number of top three finishes at National Points Race competitions, and number of National Points Race final rounds. If all of this fails to break a tie, then co-champions are declared.
So here are the possible combinations of points that each of the three competitors could earn in their respective final rounds:
To award points at this event, Extemp Central will combine extempers performance in both parts of the tournament in US and International extemp. For each part of the tournament extempers will receive points based on their finish. The points they can receive are as follows:
1st place = 1 pt.
2nd place = 3 pts.
3rd place = 5 pts.
4th place = 7 pts.
5th place = 9 pts.
6th place = 10 pts.
Semi-Finalist = 15 pts.
Quarter-Finalist = 25 pts.
Non-Break = 35 pts.
The top six extempers with the lowest total of points will be awarded the 1st-6th National Points Race fifth pier points. This will prevent a double counting of St. Mark’s. Extemp Central encourages anyone attending the tournament to send us information on finalists and final placings so that we can recognize those individuals in a timely manner.
Extemp Central wishes everyone competing at St. Mark’s this weekend good luck.
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The 2014-2015 season features the return of the Extemp Central National Points Race. The National Points Race is a season-long competition that seeks to identify the top extempers across a select group of prestigious national circuit events. Extemp Central recognizes that in some years the top extemper in the nation may not win the National Points Race due to the inability of some competitors to travel extensively. Still, three national champions are among the four previous National Points Race winners.
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Next season, Extemp Central will redebut the National Points Race, a season long competition that recognizes the extemporaneous speaker who performs the best in a series of national circuit tournaments. The race has not taken place for the last two seasons, but if there was a National Points Race for the 2013-2014 season, what would it look like? Extemp Central has gone through this year’s results and tallied up this season’s rankings heading into the 2014 National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament. The 2011-2012 tier system was used for awarding points and that system will undergo revision for next season.
Here is what the unofficial 2013-2014 National Points Race “Top 25” would look like:
The new 2011-2012 Extemp Central National Points Race standings have been released. These standings reflect the results of the Florida Blue Key. Check out these standings by clicking on the National Points Race tab above or by clicking here.
Our calculations for Blue Key, based on the same system used for St. Mark’s, came out as follows:
1st: Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa) (4 points)
2nd: Nathan Leys (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa) (6 points)
3rd: Joe Calder (Cary Academy, North Carolina) (20 points)
4th: Eryn Hughes (St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Florida) (30 points)
5th: Carolyn Evans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa) (32 points)
T6th: Jason Singh (Green Valley High School, Nevada) (34 points)
T6th: Matt DeBari (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida) (34 points)
As a result of being the top overall extemper at the Blue Key, Nellans will earn 40 National Points Race points. Singh and DeBari will equally split the ten points available for sixth place and will receive five National Points Race points each in the new standings.
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Here is a quick rehash of that system:
To award points at this event, Extemp Central will combine extempers performance in U.S. and International Extemp categories. For each part of the tournament extempers will receive points based on their finish. The points awarded go as follows:
This year, there will not be a significant shake up in the Extemp Central National Points Race, which is heading into its fourth year. The five different tiers will remain and while new tournaments have been added and some have been shifted around, the points that are offered at the tournament will not be adjusted. Except for the case of a tournament that was just moved into the second tier, the same points structure that existed last year will remain intact.
The only major change is going to occur in how the National Team Points Race is tabulated. In the past, it was possible for one competitor to win the National Team Points Race for their squad. The most notable example of this is when Stacey Chen helped North Allegheny Senior High School defeat Bellarmine College Prep during the inaugural year of the National Points Race. This year, in an attempt to make the race more of a “team” event, an extemper’s top three finishes during a season will count towards their team total. Any finishes beyond this will not count toward their school. For example, if an extemper were to win NFL, MBA, GMU, Yale, and Wake Forest, their finishes at NFL, MBA, and GMU would be the only ones counted because those would be their top three finishes relative to the points they earn in the National Points Race.
Here is a quick overview of the tournaments in this year’s National Points Race.
The first issue of this year’s Ex Files magazine revealed that the way the National Forensic League (NFL) National Tournament was computed in the National Points Race would be different for the 2010-2011 season. Instead of awarding the same amount of points, which was 200 last year, to both United States and International Extemp, Extemp Central decided to give weight to the extemp category that had the most participants in the top 25 of the National Points Race after the Catholic Forensic League (CFL) Grand National Tournament. The category with more participants will earn bonus points and the winner will receive 250 points, instead of the usual 200. Other participants in the category will earn more points for their placings from finals to octofinals relative to their counterparts in the other extemp category. In cases of a tie, the winners of both categories would receive 200 points, with no bonus awarded.
Here is how this year’s NFL field shakes out based on the information that Extemp Central has been able to obtain. The extemper’s rank in this year’s National Points Race is placed in parenthesis to the left of their name.
The 2010-2011 Extemp Central National Points Race and National Team Points Race standings have been updated to reflect the results of the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions. Check out the newest standings by clicking on the National Points Race tab above or by clicking here.
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The 2010-2011 Extemp Central National Points Race and National Team Points Race standings have been updated to reflect the results of Harvard and the California Invitational. Check out the newest standings by clicking on the National Points Race tab above or by clicking here.
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The 2010-2011 Extemp Central National Points Race and National Team Points Race standings have been updated to reflect the results of the Barkley Forum. The tournament only caused a few minor positions to change in the rankings. You can find out what those changes are by clicking on the National Points Race tab above or by clicking here.
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The 2010-2011 Extemp Central National Points Race and National Team Points Race standings have been updated to reflect the results of the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin. There are some new names and teams in the latest rankings so find out who they are by clicking on the “Natl Pts Race” tab above or clicking here.
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The 2010-2011 Extemp Central National Points Race and National Team Points Race standings have been updated to reflect the results of the George Mason University Patriot Games Tournament. There are some new names and teams in the latest rankings so find out who they are by clicking on the “Natl Pts Race” tab above or clicking here.
The Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin, the only second tier tournament in the National Points Race, is the next National Points Race tournament and it will take place in four weeks in Nashville, Tennessee. Extemp Central will provide live coverage of this event, as well as several preview pieces for it in the weeks ahead.
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