Extemp Central National Points Race November Update

by Logan Scisco

Just like last year, the Extemp Central National Points Race is close heading into the Glenbrooks this weekend.  No extemper has managed to gain points at more than one of the first three tournaments that count for points in the season:  Wake Forest, Yale, and St. Mark’s.  Similarly, the National Teams Points Race is close going into Glenbrooks thanks to several teams gaining multiple finalists at the first three major national circuit tournaments of the year.

The Glenbrooks should serve to shake out the rankings better prior to the George Mason University Patriot Games tournament which will be the last tournament that will count for points in the National Points Race for the first semester.  The Glenbrooks will award 100 points to the winner since it is a third tier tournament and with many recognized names attending someone could break away from the field by the end of next weekend.  Similarly, if someone who is not ranked wins Glenbrooks and most of the top half of the current National Points Race field fails to find, we could end up with some very jumbled standings heading into George Mason and the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin in two months.

Individual Points Race

Here are your top 15 competitors in the 2009-2010 Extemp Central National Points Race after the first three tournaments of the year:

After winning the Yale University Invitational, which was a fourth tier tournament while Wake Forest and St. Mark’s were fifth tier tournaments, Aaron Lutkowitz of Montgomery Bell Academy is at the top of the rankings.  Considering that Lutkowitz won the George Mason University Patriot Games tournament last year and will also be attending Glenbrooks, he is positioned to gain more points as the semester closes out.  Behind Lutkowitz is Nabeel Zewail of San Marino High School in California, the 7^th place finisher in International Extemp last year at NFL Nationals.  Zewail finished second to Lutkowitz at the Yale University Invitational and is most likely primed for a MBA bid after he performance at NFL so he is worth keeping an eye on for the rest of the season.  Rounding out to the top three is Nathaniel Donahue of Durham Academy in North  Carolina who placed third at Yale and was a semi-finalist at the Wake Forest National Early Bird.

Early season winners Emily Martin of Boone County High School in Kentucky and Dillon Huff of Southlake Carroll High School in Texas are tied for fourth after receiving forty points for their victories at the Wake Forest National Early Bird and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, respectively.  Martin is the first Kentucky extemper to be part of the official rankings system, although Hunter Kendrick of Danville High School placed in the top ten in unofficial rankings for the 2007-2008 season.  However, Martin is not attending Glenbrooks which will hurt her in points.  Huff is surging back up the standings, having won both parts of the St. Mark’s tournament.  Huff won the Exhibition Round last year at MBA and finished second at the Barkley Forum and Extemp TOC.  He was the only competitor who could have chased last year’s National Points Race champion Stacey Chen down at NFL, but when he did not attend the tournament she won by default.  Without question, Huff will be in a position to challenge for the championship as the season comes to a close.

The rest of the rankings end up jumbled for now because of competitors not earning multiple points at multiple tournaments.  Rohan Bhargava of Jackson High School in Ohio is tied for sixth after a second place finish at the Wake Forest National Early Bird and Bari Saltman of the Berkeley Carroll School in New York is there with him after a fourth place finish at Yale.  Teammates Sam Scott and Shahid Ahmed of Plano Senior High School in Texas are tied for eighth after they had similar finishes across both halves of the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational. Matthew Alonsozana of Loyola-Blakefield High School in Maryland and Jared Odessky of Nova High School in Florida round out the top ten after placing third at the Wake Forest National Early Bird and fifth at the Yale University Invitational, respectively.

National Team Points Race

Here are the top ten teams in the 2009-2010 Extemp Central National Team Points Race after the first three tournaments of the year:

Last year, the National Teams Points Race was much closer than the Individual Points Race, decided by a mere five points between North Allegheny Senior High School in Pennsylvania and Bellarmine College Prep in California.  After having two finalists this season, one at the Wake Forest National Early Bird and a winner at the Yale University Invitational, Montgomery Bell Academy in Tennessee is in the driver’s seat of the National Team Points Race.  Behind them is Plano Senior High School in Texas, which racked up three top six finishes when performance at both parts of the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational was taken into consideration.

The new five tiered points system had an impact in the top five as Nabeel Zewail’s second place finish at Yale puts San Marino High School in third place despite Jackson High School in Ohio having two final round placings at the Wake Forest National Early Bird.  Nathaniel Donahue’s third place finish at Yale has put Durham Academy in North Carolina in a tie for fourth as well.

Emily Martin and Dillon Huff have put Boone County High School in Kentucky and Southlake Carroll High School in a tie for sixth in the team points race.  Southlake Carroll placed fourth in last year’s rankings behind a series of strong finishes by Huff in recognized tournaments.

Rounding out the top ten is the Berkeley Carroll School and Loyla-Blakefield High School.  Nova High School starts the 2009-2010 campaign in the same position they ended last year, when they finished ninth in the final National Team Points Race standings with 165 points.