Extemp Central National Points Race 2008-09 Final Standings

by Logan Scisco

Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Team Standings

Now that the Birmingham NFL Nationals is complete, the Extemp National Points Race has concluded.  This year’s individual points race was decided before the national tournament began when Dillon Huff and Matt Arons were not at the tournament, which handed the individual points championship to Stacey Chen of North Allegheny Senior High School in Pennsylvania.  However, the team points race ended up tighter than expected, thanks to a late surge from Bellarmine College Prep in California.

The Extemp Central National Points Race covered a wide range of tournament this year, starting with the Wake Forest National Early Bird and concluding with the 2009 NFL National tournament.  Next year, there will be some adjustments made to the national points race, so that bigger national circuit tournaments like Glenbrooks and Harvard receive more points than the Wake Forest National Early Bird, the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic, and the California Invitational.  These changes will be detailed in the first edition of next year’s Ex Files, which is set to be released a week before Wake Forest.

While the below descriptions of individual and team points race will only list the top fifteen and top ten, a full version of the standings will be made available on the Extemp Central site so that competitors and schools who did not crack the top fifteen can see where they finished.

Individual Standings

Here are the finalizing individual point standings for the 2008-2009 season:

Heading into the national tournament, Stacey Chen needed to final to ensure that she emerged victorious in the national points race.  However, when Dillon Huff did not attend she clinched the points race before the competition began on Monday.  Chen rolled through much of the national competition this year, taking victories at Glenbrooks, Harvard, the George Mason University Round Robin, the Extemp TOC, and finally the national championship in International Extemp at NFL.  She was also the winner of the Mehta Bowl, given out to the winner of the final round.  Chen is also the third individual to win the Extemp TOC and an NFL national championship in the same year, with Kevin Troy and Alex Stephenson pulling it off in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

Evan Larson of Bellarmine College Prep, who placed second at the MBA Extemp Round Robin and won the California Invitational, ended up finishing a distant second in the points standings behind Chen after winning the United States Extemp national championship at the NFL tournament.  Larson led a Bellarmine College Prep squad who made its mark on the tournament by having a second place finish in International Extemp by Will Rafey and a third in International Extemp by Jacob Baker.  In fact, Rafey lost the International Extemp championship and the final round national championship to Chen by one rank, which had an impact on the team national points race, which will be discussed later on.

Nick Cugini of Cypress Ridge High School in Texas ended up finishing fifth in the standings, behind Huff and Arons, following a third place finish in United States Extemp at NFL.  Cugini was a fourth place finisher this year at MBA and won the U.S. extemp portion of the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational.  Finishing behind him in the standings was Alex Draime of Howland High School in Ohio.  Draime headed into the final round with an opportunity to become the third person in history to win CFL and NFL national championships in the same year, but fell short of that goal and placed fourth in United States extemp.

Phil Gillen of Regis High School in New York, a Barkley Forum and CFL finalist, ended up in seventh place following a semi-final finish in U.S. Extemp.  United States Final Round National Champion Taman Narayan of Leland High School in California placed eighth based on his runner-up finish and final round win alone.  John Mern, who was a fourth place finisher at CFL, was able to move up one spot in the standings to ninth place, after he finaled in United States Extemp and took sixth place.  John Lisman falls a bit in the standings after acquiring no points at NFL.

Brennan Morris of Randolph Macon Academy in Virginia and Amanda Johnson of Eagan High School in Minnesota, retained their positions in the top fifteen following semi-final performances in United States extemp.  Ryan Pereira‘s seventh place finish in United States Extemp, just missing the final round by one rank, helped him move into the top fifteen to end the year and Michael Watson of Desert Vista High School in Arizona also moved into the top fifteen after semi-finaling in International Extemp.

Team Standings

Here are the finalizing team points standings for the 2008-2009 season:

Following their surge of finalists at NFL, Bellarmine College Prep in California nearly took away the national team points standings from North Allegheny Senior High School in Pennsylvania.  The five point margin that separated them could easily have been reversed if a number of scenarios had occurred, such as Chen not winning International Extemp, Will Rafey winning the final round, and Evan Larson winning his final round.  North Allegheny’s points all came from Stacey Chen this season and it is interesting to see how her high finishes were able to establish just enough distance between her school and one of the forensic powerhouses in the country.

Howland High School in Ohio sits comfortably in the third spot to end the season after Alex Draime’s CFL victory and fourth place finish in United States Extemp and Manish Mehta’s CFL final and semi-final placing in International Extemp.  Having accumulated no points prior to CFL, Howland’s third place showing is quite impressive.

Carroll High School in Texas and Millburn High School in New Jersey sink in the standings after accumulating no points at the NFL national tournament.  Meanwhile, Cypress Ridge High School, led by Nick Cugini, finish the year in sixth place.

Leland High School moves into the top ten after Taman Narayan’s second place finish in United States Extemp and final round victory.  Regis High School, accumulating many of its points from Phil Gillen, stays in the top ten to close the year, although they fall from fifth to eighth.  Nova High School, who had strong placings this year at Glenbrooks and the Barkley Forum, also retain a spot in the top ten thanks to Ryan Pereira’s semi-final in United States Extemp, but fall from sixth to ninth.  Finally, J.P. Talaverra High School in Florida cracks the top ten to end the season after John Mern’s two final round placings at CFL and NFL.

Tournament Overview

Here is a final reflection and look back at the tournaments that counted for this year’s Extemp Central National Points Race.