by Daniel Kind
In early February, the 34th Annual Stanford Invitational, an important tournament for West Coast Extempers has concluded. This year’s instance of the Palo Alto tournament attracted 69 competitors, mostly from California in National Extemp and 66 competitors in International Extemp. The Stanford Invitational is a fifth-tier tournament which means that it is a make or break affair. Only finalists are awarded points in the national points race. Since the tournament divides Extemporaneous Speaking into International and National (US) categories, the competitors who placed in the top 6 using a formula that calculates results in both categories.
 
Nikitha Kalahasti, an MBA attendee from Presentation High School in California placed 1st in the International Category and 3rd in the National Category. These placements give her 1st place overall and 40 points in the National Points Race. Krish Kothari from Mission San Jose High School in California earned 2nd place overall as a result of his 2nd place finish in International Extemp and his semifinal placement in National Extemp. James Hu of Mira Loma High School in California got 3rd place overall; he finished in 5th place in both International and National Extemp. Arham Habib from Monte Vista High School in California came in 4th place overall since he won the National Extemp category. 5th place goes to Keith Maben from Golden State Academy in California, who got 2nd in National Extemp. Rounding out the finalists is Monte Vista High School’s Lisa Leung, who finished 3rd in International Extemp.
 
For their performances, Kalahasti got 40 points, Kothari got 34, Hu got 28, Habib got 20, Maben got 16, and Leung accrued 13 points in the Extemp Central National Points Race.
Here are the results of the 2020 Stanford Invitational:
International Extemp

Champion: Nikitha Kalahasti (Presentation High School, California)
2nd: Krish Kothari (Mission San Jose High School, California)
3rd: Lisa Leung (Monte Vista High School, California)
4th: Daniel Kind (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
5th: James Hu (Mira Loma High School, California)
6th: Patrick Kim (North Hollywood High School, California)
7th: Aman Desai (Monta Vista High School, California)
 
Semifinalists
Jay Jang (King’s High School, Washington)
Michelle Jin (Harker School, California)
Josh Park (Fullerton Union High School, California)
Krishna Sanaka (Hawken Upper School, Ohio)
Gautham Sudhakar (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
Molly Xiao (Hawken Upper School, Ohio)
Joyce Wu (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
 
Quarterfinalists
Peter Alisky (Smoky Hill High School, Colorado)
Arnav Barpujari (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
Avi Gulati (Harker School, California)
Ethan Huang (Mountain View High School, California)
Praveen Kumar (Hawken Upper School, Ohio)
Sam Li (Hawken Upper School, Ohio) 
Isabel Mestey-Colón (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
Anwesha Mukherjee (West View High School, Oregon)
Atmaja Patil (Monta Vista High School, California)
Elizabeth Ray (George Washington, Colorado)
Tanya Richards (Mira Loma High School, California)
Siya Sharma (Monte Vista High School, California)
Maltin Tocani (Claremont High School, California)
Anisha Yeddanapudi (Mountain House High School, California)

United States Extemp

Champion: Arham Habib (Monte Vista High School, California)
2nd: Keith Maben (Golden State Academy, California)
3rd: Nikitha Kalahasti (Presentation High School, California)
4th: Priti Rangnekar (BASIS Independent, California)
5th: James Hu (Mira Loma, California)
6th: Khalid Mohieldin (George Washington High School, Colorado)
7th: Mrudhula Nithiyakumar (Monte Vista High School, California)
 
Semifinalists
Peter Alisky (Smoky Hill High School, Colorado) 
Michelle Lin (Harker School, California)
Patrick Kim (North Hollywood High School, California)
Krish Kothari (Mission San Jose High School, California)
Sam Li (Hawken Upper School, Ohio)
Krishna Sanaka (Hawken Upper School, Ohio)
Joyce Wu (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
Alison Zhang (Mission San Jose High School, California)
 
Quarterfinalists
Snikitha Banda (Notre Dame High School, California)
Ross Combs (George Washington High School, Colorado)
Jay Jang (King’s High School, Washington)
Anwesha Mukherjee (Westview High School, Oregon)
Josh Park (Fullerton Union High School, California)
Anthony Rumbos (Claremont High School, California)
Jack Schoenbrun (All Saint’s Episcopal School, Texas)
Zain Shabbir (Monte Vista High School, California)
Siya Sharma (Monte Vista School, California)
Aniruddh Suresh (Cupertino High School, California) 
Molly Xiao (Hawken Upper School, Ohio)