Extemp Question Central National Points Race (November Standings)

by Logan Scisco

There have been three tournaments counting towards the inaugural Extemp Question Central National Points Race since our October edition, one occurring at the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic and the other at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, where both the United States and International extemp tournaments counted for points.  To see a breakdown and basis for the Extemp Question Central National Points Race, please look at previous issues of The Ex Files that can be accessed on the Extemp Question Central website.

The University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic, held on October 18-19^th, and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, held on October 16-19^th, featured diverse fields of competition.  The inclusion of these three additional tournaments into the rankings, which have already included the Wake Forest Early Bird and the Yale University Invitational, helped to break the tie that existed in the number one spot in the rankings in our last issue.  To view the results of the Liberty Bell Classic and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, please look at the results section at the back of this magazine.

Individual Standings

Here are the updated individual standings as of November 18, 2008.  The top fifteen in the rankings are included below:

The top two spots in this month’s rankings come to us from the state of Texas with Dillon Huff of Carroll High School and Nick Cugini of Cypress Ridge High School making their rankings debut.  Huff’s spot at the top of the rankings was propelled by St. Mark’s as he managed to win the International extemp portion of the tournament and placed second behind Cugini in the United States extemp portion of the tournament.  For his part, Cugini finished third in the International extemp portion of the tournament behind Huff to accompany his victory in the United States extemp portion.  Depending on their travel schedule for the remaining part of the year, these two extempers could stay near the top of the rankings for the next few months, or they could fade as the Glenbrooks, George Mason University Patriot Games, and the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin, a second tier tournament, will be added into the rankings within the next month and a half.

In other rankings news, Brennan Morris of Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia vaulted up the rankings from the eighth position into the third spot, twenty points behind Huff, after a victory at the University Liberty Bell Classic.  This added fifty points to his rankings total to accompany a fourth place finish at the Wake Forest University National Early Bird at the beginning of the season.  Not far behind him is Jovalin Dedaj of Fordham Preparatory in New York, who finished second to Morris at the Liberty Bell Classic and finished behind Morris a second time in fifth place at Wake Forest.  Dedaj’s runner-up finish at the Liberty Bell Classic moved him up from a tie for tenth in the rankings into sole possession of fourth place with 56 points.

Early season winners Alon Elhanan of the Bronx High School of Science in New York and Matt Arons of Millburn High School in New Jersey fall from a tie for first in last month’s rankings into a tie for fifth place based on inactivity.  A similar fall can be attributed to the two competitors who placed behind them at those tournaments, Siobhan Tellez of Oakwood High School in Ohio and Stacey Chen of North Allegheny Senior High School in Pennsylvania, who currently occupy a four-way tie for seventh place.  This logjam is joined by Michael Watson of Desert Vista High School in Arizona, who finished second in International extemp at St. Mark’s.  The final competitor in this tie for seventh is Morgan Booksh of McNeil High School in Texas, who placed fourth in both extemps at St. Mark’s.

Last year’s unofficial rankings winner Rebecca Goldstein of Newton South High School in Massachusetts fell to a tie for 11^th in the rankings after a period of inactivity at the national circuit level last month, but will most likely rise when the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin is calculated into the rankings in the January edition.

Team Standings:

There was a shakeup in the team rankings from last month after the inclusion of the Liberty Bell Classic and St. Mark’s.  Here are the updated top ten in the Extemp Question Central National Team Points Race as of November 18, 2008:

Team rankings are determined by applying points extempers earn in competition from the National Points Race to the team that they compete for.  Ties are broken based on the number of finalists teams have had at the national tournaments that factor into the Extemp Question Central National Points Race.

Based on a string of strong finishes by two of their extempers, Dillon Huff, who currently occupies the top spot in the Extemp Question Central Individual National Points Race, and Bryan Campanello, Carroll High School has taken a 26 point lead in the National Team Points Race.  The three finals that they earned at St. Mark’s might work to their advantage if they hold onto the top spot and end up in a tie at the end of the year.

In the second position is another Texas school, Cypress Ridge High School who can credit their 80 total points to the efforts of Nick Cugini, who finaled twice at the St. Mark’s tournament and won the United States extemp competition there.  Randolph-Macon Academy of Virginia and Fordham Preparatory of New York are in third and fourth place, respectively, for the same reason of relying on two strong competitors, Brennan Morris and Jovalin Deda for their rankings points thus far in the season.

Although they were inactive in the counted tournaments for last month, Newton South High School in Massachusetts, who finished second in last year’s unofficial rankings and who was in the top spot last month, has fallen only into fifth position thanks to the third and fourth place finishes of Rebecca Goldstein and Alex Tolkin at the Yale University Invitational.  Newton South avoids a tie with the Bronx High School of Science in New York and Millburn High School in New Jersey thanks to having two finalists.

McNeil High School of Texas also avoids a three-way tie for ninth position and resides in eighth place due to a series of fourth place finishes in both extemp competitions by Morgan Booksh.  Rounding out the top ten, with the same point total as McNeil but only having one finalist thus far in the season are Oakwood High School in Ohio, North Allegheny Senior High School in Pennsylvania, and Desert Vista High School in Arizona.

On a sidenote, it is worth mentioning that extemp powerhouse Eagan High School in Minnesota is sitting at 16^th in the rankings with 28 points, based off of the fifth and sixth place finishes of Namita Desai and Amanda Johnson in International extemp at St. Mark’s.

Tournament Overview

Here is an overview of the tournaments that will count for this year’s competitive calendar towards the Extemp Question Central National Points Race, how many points each tournament will be worth, and who the big winners have been so far.