Before each new extemp season, a set of pre-season rankings serve as a valuable starting point.  Competitors like to know how they match up against each other and are interested to see who is returning to the circuit.  Extemp Central looked over last year’s results and put together a pre-season top ten based simply on last year’s National Points Race standings. The logic goes that the standings showed finishes that were accumulated by competitors during last season at major tournaments and since points in the National Points Race are only given out for final placings (with the exception of nationals), all of the competitors below had some major showings last year.

The competitors are listed in the order that they finished in last year’s National Points Race. Extemp Central recognizes that people improve and it would be unwise for us to proclaim someone as the definitive early favorite for this season’s National Points Race championship. Also, some people who do not travel the national circuit only have CFL and/or NFL to accumulate points so their lack of wins and top three finishes does not reflect that they are any less talented than people with wins and top three finishes at national circuit tournaments. Therefore, keep in mind that below is just a snapshot of some of the names you might see return to the standings in 2010-2011.

Note: Wins are counted in the number of top three finishes.

Dylan Slinger (Lakeville South High School, Minnesota)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  3rd
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  3 (CFL Nationals, NFL USX Final Round Winner, Minnesota 2A State Champion)
Top 3 Finishes:  4 (2nd-NFL Nationals US Extemp)
Other Finishes:  5th-George Mason, Participant-GMU Extemp Round Robin

Nabeel Zewail (San Marino High School, California)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  7th
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  1 (Extemp TOC)
Top 3 Finishes:  2 (2nd-Yale Invitational)
Other Finishes:  4th-MBA Extemp Round Robin, 7th-Berkeley; Octo-Finalist-NFL Nationals International Extemp

Jared Odessky (Nova High School, Florida)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  15th
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  1 (Florida US Extemp State Champion)
Top 3 Finishes:  1
Other Finishes:  9th-NFL Nationals US Extemp, 5th-Yale, 6th-Glenbrooks, Participant-MBA Extemp Round Robin

Emily Martin (Boone County High School, Kentucky)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  22nd
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  1 (Wake Forest National Early Bird)
Top 3 Finishes:  1
Other Finishes:  6th-Barkley Forum, Semi-Finalist-Extemp TOC, Semi-Finalist-CFL Nationals, Quarter-Finalist-NFL Nationals US Extemp, Participant-GMU Extemp Round Robin

Forrest Richardson (Savannah High School, Missouri)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  24th
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  0
Top 3 Finishes:  0
Other Finishes:  7th-NFL Nationals US Extemp, Semi-Finalist-CFL Nationals

Kevin Ye (Gabrielino High School, California)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  30th
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  0
Top 3 Finishes:  0
Other Finishes:  8th-NFL Nationals US Extemp

Nathaniel Donahue (Durham Academy, North Carolina)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  31st
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  1 (North Carolina State Champion)
Top 3 Finishes:  2 (3rd-Yale)
Other Finishes:  Semi-Finalist-Extemp TOC, Quarter-Finalist-NFL Nationals US Extemp

Peter Vogel (Ridge High School, New Jersey)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  32nd
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  0
Top 3 Finishes:  0
Other Finishes:  4th-Harvard, Quarter-Finalist-NFL Nationals US Extemp

Susan Czaikowski (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  T34th
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  0
Top 3 Finishes:  0
Other Finishes:  10th-NFL Nationals US Extemp, Semi-Finalist-Extemp TOC

Amode Tembhekar (Leland High School, California)

Last Year’s Points Race Ranking:  40th
Class:  Senior
Major Wins:  1 (Berkeley)
Top 3 Finishes:  1
Other Finishes:  Quarter-Finalist-NFL Nationals US Extemp