by Logan Scisco
The Extemp Central National Points Race is a competition designed to reward extempers for placing high at selected national circuit competitions throughout the year. Tournaments are placed into five tiers based on their level of prestige and each tier awards a different amount of points towards elimination round participants. To find out what point value tournaments are worth, click here. At the end of the season, the winner of the National Points Race receives a customary glass trophy recognizing their achievement courtesy of Extemp Central.
As noted in the Glenbrooks results, the National Points Race has a new leader. Al Zaidi of Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy (FL), coming off the heels of a runner-up finish at the Florida Blue Key, finished third at Glenbrooks. The 70 points credited for that finish was enough to overtake previous number one Robert Zhang of Elkins High School (TX), who was not able to earn points at Glenbrooks to maintain his position. Zaidi has earned points at the last four National Points Race tournaments and finaled in three of them.
Zhang was also overtaken by the Glenbrooks winner, Kate Liu of Plano West Senior High School (TX). By winning the first third tier event of the season Liu earned 100 points and vaulted from ninth to second. Like Zaidi, she was also a Blue Key finalist. Those two finishes are responsible for all of her points thus far. Liu is now a mere 27 points behind Zaidi.
Several Glenbrooks finalists earned their first points of the year. Runner-up Rowan Seipp of A&M Consolidated High School (TX) is now in sixth place, fifth place finisher Alexandre Morel of Plano West is ranked twelfth, and sixth place finisher Lindsey Zhao of Plano Senior High School (TX) is ranked seventeenth. Morel finished in the top 25 last season.
Ellie Sohn of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) was the biggest mover in the previous standings from Glenbrooks. Her fourth place performance, coupled with a semi-finalist showing at Yale, moved her from seventeenth to ninth.
Sahana Srikanth of Mason High School (OH) continued earning points at National Points Race tournaments at Glenbrooks. Srikanth did not reach the Glenbrooks final but was a semi-finalist, good enough for her to hold onto the fourth spot in the new rankings.
Daphne Kalir-Starr of the College Preparatory School (CA), previously ranked eighth, moved up one spot after making the Glenbrooks semi-finals.
Kajal Parmar of Cary Academy (NC) also moved up a three spots in the new rankings after making the Glenbrooks quarter-finals. Parmar went from sixteenth into a tie for thirteenth with Charlotte Reitman of NSU University School (FL) and Shriya Dharmapurikar of Durham Academy (NC).
Remaining semi-finalists at Glenbrooks produced a logjam for twenty-first place. Eric Qian and Ryan Xu of Plano West, Lincoln Roston of Claremont High School (CA), and Joy Hu of the Harker School (CA) are all tied in that position.
Andrew Zheng of Acalanes High School (LA) and Eashan Kosaraju of Solon High School (OH) fell out of the top 25 after Glenbrooks.
This weekend features the first triple header in National Points Race history. The University of Texas-Austin’s Longhorn Classic, the Princeton Classic, and the George Mason University Patriot Games will close the first semester, offering points to extempers from different regions of the country. The Longhorn Classic will be a third tier event, the Princeton Classic will be a fourth tier event, and the Patriot Games will be a fifth tier event. The outcome of these tournaments has the potential to significantly shake up this year’s standings and will be the last chance for extempers to impress for bids to the 2025 Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin.
Here are the standings of the 2024-2025 National Points Race after the Glenbrooks:
| RANK | NAME | SCHOOL | POINTS |
| 1 | Al Zaidi | Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy (Melbourne, FL) | 176 |
| 2 | Kate Liu | Plano West Senior HS (Plano, TX) | 149 |
| 3 | Robert Zhang | Elkins HS (Missouri City, TX) | 110 |
| 4 | Sahana Srikanth | Mason HS (Mason OH) | 105 |
| 5 | Waleed Haider | Hendrickson HS (Pflugerville, TX) | 88 |
| 6 | Rowan Seipp | A&M Consolidated HS (College Station, TX) | 85 |
| 7 | Daphne Kalir-Starr | The College Preparatory School (Oakland, CA) | 81 |
| 8 | Sven Stumbauer | Christopher Columbus HS (Miami, FL) | 70 |
| 9 | Ellie Sohn | Flintridge Preparatory School (Flintridge, CA) | 68 |
| 10 | Aparna Iyer | Ridge HS (Somerset County, NJ) | 65 |
| 11 | Tea Shouldice | Half Hollow Hills High School East (Dix Hills, NY) | 58 |
| 12 | Alexandre Morel | Plano West Senior HS (Plano, TX) | 40 |
| T13 | Charlotte Reitman | NSU University School (Fort Lauderdale, FL) | 35 |
| T13 | Shriya Dharmapurikar | Durham Academy (Durham, NC) | 35 |
| T13 | Kajal Parmar | Cary Academy (Cary, NC) | 35 |
| 16 | Anthony Babu | Concord-Carlisle HS (Concord, MA) | 34 |
| 17 | Lindsey Zhao | Plano Senior HS (Plano, TX) | 33 |
| 18 | Kai Forbach | Durham Academy (Durham, NC) | 31 |
| T19 | Anish Mehta | Scarsdale HS (Scarsdale, NY) | 28 |
| T19 | Rohan Dash | Pine View School (Osprey, FL) | 28 |
| T21 | Eric Qian | Plano West Senior HS (Plano, TX) | 25 |
| T21 | Ryan Xu | Plano West Senior HS (Plano, TX) | 25 |
| T21 | Lincoln Roston | Claremont HS (Claremont, CA) | 25 |
| T21 | Joy Hu | The Harker School (San Jose, CA) | 25 |
| T25 | Shresta Antil | Ridge HS (Somerset County, NJ) | 18 |
| T25 | Haotian He | Newton South HS (Newton, MA) | 18 |
| T25 | Ayan Nallamshetty | Robinson HS (Tampa, FL) | 18 |
| T25 | Harry Reitman | NSU University School (Fort Lauderdale, FL) | 18 |
| T25 | Tanmay Rai | The Village School (Houston, TX) | 18 |
| T25 | Jacob Chanmugam | Lake Highland Preparatory School (Orlando, FL) | 18 |
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2024-2025 National Points Race Tournaments w/Tier, Points Awarded to the Winner, and Champion
National Speech and Debate Season Opener Hosted by UK (5th Tier, 40 pts.):
Robert Zhang (Elkins High School, Texas)
Yale University Invitational (4th Tier, 70 pts.):
Robert Zhang (Elkins High School, Texas)
New York City Invitational (5th Tier, 40 pts.):
Tea Shouldice (Half Hollow Hills High School East, New York)
The Florida Blue Key (4th Tier, 70 pts.):
Sven Stumbaeur (Christopher Columbus High School, Florida)
The Glenbrooks (3rd Tier, 100 pts.):
Kate Liu (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
University of Texas-Longhorn Classic (3rd Tier, 100 pts.):
Princeton Classic (4th Tier, 70 pts.)
George Mason University Patriot Games (5th Tier, 40 pts.):
Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin (2nd Tier, 150 pts.):
James Logan MLK Invitational (5th Tier, 40 pts.):
The Barkley Forum (4th Tier, 70 pts.):
The Apple Valley Minneapple (5th Tier, 40 pts.):
The Stanford Invitational (4th Tier, 70 pts.):
Harvard National High School Invitational (2nd Tier, 150 pts.):
The California Invitational (3rd Tier, 100 pts.):
University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (3rd Tier, 100 pts.):
The Extemp Tournament of Champions (4th Tier, 70 pts.):
National Individual Events Tournament of Champions (4th Tier, 70 pts.):
Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament (2nd Tier, 150 pts.):
National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament–International Extemp (1st Tier, 200/250 pts.):
National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament–United States Extemp (1st Tier, 200/250 pts.):
National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament International Extemp Final Round Winner (1st Tier, 40/50 pts.):
National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament U.S. Extemp Final Round Winner (1st Tier, 40/50 pts.):
2023-2024 National Points Race Final Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
2022-2023 National Points Race Final Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
2021-2022 National Points Race Final Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
2015-2016 National Points Race Final Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
2014-2015 National Points Race Final Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
2011-2012 National Points Race Final Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Team Standings
2010-2011 National Points Race Final Standings:
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Team Standings
2009-2010 National Points Race Final Standings:
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Team Standings
2008-2009 National Points Race Final Standings:
Spreadsheet of Final Individual Standings
Spreadsheet of Final Team Standings
Theodore Gercken
I just wanted to let you know the Stanford Tournament has not been canceled. It’s been renamed the Palm Classic and is inheriting its TOC, ETOC, and NIETOC bids. As such, is there a reason it’s not inheriting its points race points?
Logan Scisco
We weren’t aware of the change! We will make sure to make this change, so the tournament will be added into the National Points Race this week!
Dev
Hi Logan, is there a reason the UPenn tournament, with 75 entries, is not included in the points race?
Logan Scisco
For a long time UPenn ran opposite of Harvard and its field was relatively weak. It was part of the first National Points Race but was removed when the tournament started going the same weekend as Harvard/Cal and the quality of its field became too poor to warrant points. Another reason is that the National Points Race is pretty heavy on East Coast tournaments already. For the sake of expansion, we’d also prefer adding events in the Midwest or West Coast. However, after each season the National Points Race undergoes some changes/revisions based on the results in 3 year cycles for tournaments, which can alter tiers or remove some tournaments entirely. So UPenn will get some consideration when that reevaluation is done in the offseason along with other tournaments like the NIETOC and such.
Brandon
Hi there,
I wonder why points are not awarded to the 7th-place finisher in tournaments whose final rounds include seven participants. The information blurb for Tier 5 tournaments states the following:
Fifth tier tournaments are make-or-break affairs. Only those extempers who reach the final round will receive points.
If “extempers who reach the final round will receive points,” I think it is only fair that students who reach said round but place seventh should be awarded a commensurate number of points at tournaments that allow seven competitors to advance to finals, such as James Logan in California. Thank you for your consideration!
Logan Scisco
Hi Brandon, this is because if you look at the National Points Race calculations, points are only awarded for the top six. If tournaments opt to let seven or eight competitors into finals, that is their decision but to standardize how points are awarded across tournaments we will only award finalist points for the top six. This is because nearly every circuit tournament in the country only breaks to a final round of six competitors.
Anthony
Hi –
Thanks for running such a detailed and thorough website!
I was wondering if you plan on including Villiger and Princeton in the national points race next year.
This year, Villiger received 54 entries. That was more than the Season Opener, the NYC Invitational, and about the same as GMU.
Princeton received 87 entries. That was more all the tournaments listed above, as well as Blue Key. It was about the same as the Longhorn Classic.
I am asking because both Villiger and Princeton are cheaper for me to attend (than the alternatives, Glenbrooks and GMU), but I would consider the others if points race calculations stay the same as I plan out my travel for next year.
Thank you so much!
Logan Scisco
Thanks for the question. While I always consider adding tournaments, I probably will not add Villiger and probably not for Princeton. Both are good tournaments for sure and have good histories but a big reason not to include them is that the Northeast already has three National Points Race tournaments (Yale, NYC, and Harvard). Putting more there starts to imbalance things geographically, moreso because Yale and Harvard are fourth and second tier contests. Also, when tournaments are held sort of matters too as NYC happens earlier in October but Princeton’s weekend also has GMU and the Longhorn Classic. I like to have a spread of tournaments in the calculations rather than firing off tons of them in a given weekend.
At the end of the year, I’ll look over tab sheets and evaluate. There could be a case for doing something with Princeton, and it is something that has been considered, but it would also require finding some other balance of tournaments for the Midwest, West Coast, and South.
Anthony
Thank you so much for the detailed and thorough response!
Robert Zhang
Hi there!
I just noticed that Sunvite used to be a tier-4 tournament, but was dropped from the NPR due to running it against MBA. However, as it is once again the week after MBA, will it be returned to the NPR? I did not personally attend, but I did notice that the field had expanded from last year and will likely grow in future years.
Thank you for your time!
Best,
Robert Zhang
Logan Scisco
Hi Robert,
I’m not sure if I’ll put Sunvitational back on for the time being since there’s already a wider regional tournament in January with the Barkley Forum. It’s also a big of a crapshoot if its date will continue to mess with MBA so that makes it a bit tricky. I go back and “audit” tournaments at the end of the year and try to think of new inclusions, shifts, etc. so it’ll be considered.
Abhijay Rana
This is pretty minor, but as someone from Naperville – #6 April Zhang’s high school is located in Naperville, IL, not Napierville.
Logan Scisco
Thanks for the correction. Our next update will reflect the change.
Paul Robinson
Hello,
Is there a reason that Texas, despite having famously strong competition, only has UT on the national points race? I have recently noticed that almost every region strong in extemp has at least two NPR tournaments (Berkeley and MLK are both in California; Yale, Harvard, and Bronx are in the Northeast; Emory and Blue Key serve competitors in the Southwest; extempers in the Midwest don’t have to travel far to Glenbrooks or Apple Valley). Is there any chance that you would add another Texas tournament to the rankings, since just having the Longhorn Classic seems to not represent Texas equitably?
Logan Scisco
Not at the present time. Texas attends the other tournaments reasonably well by our standards and performs well in our tournaments rankings each year on the basis of that, which has not warranted adding another one. The reason California has three is because there is a dearth of West Coast tournaments. St. Mark’s used to be included as a fifth tier event but fell off the radar screen for national competition. Longhorn was upgraded to a third tier event this year to reflect strong competition. We obviously welcome feedback but any addition of another Texas tournament would need to include competitors who attend from surrounding states and multiple Texas regions instead of just one. St. Mark’s used to do that, which is why it was included.