[fblike]
Last week’s other Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifying tournament was the 2013 Villiger Tournament held on St. Joseph’s University’s campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The tournament is a staple of the Northeast extemp circuit and has an impressive list of past champions. This year’s tournament had 73 entries in extemporaneous speaking and Josh Wartel of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA), a finalist at last year’s NFL National Tournament in United States Extemp, thwarted Chase Harrison’s title defense. Wartel defeated Harrison, who competes for Millburn High School (NJ), in the final by four ranks. Third place went to Jasper Primack of Newton South High School (MA). Wartel is the first extemper from Virginia to win the Villiger Tournament since Brennan Morris of Randolph Macon Academy, who won the tournament in 2008.
Villiger had enough extempers in its field to give all extempers that made quarter-finals a qualifying leg to this year’s TOC. Four extempers earned their second qualifying leg and earned a bid to the TOC through category three of the qualifying process. These extempers were Sophia Deng of Millburn High School (NJ), Edric Huang of Stuyvesant High School (NY), Monica Mishra of the Ursuline School (NY), and Ben Tobin of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA). Eleven other extempers earned their first qualifying leg. The extempers that earned a TOC qualifying leg at Villiger are indicated in italics.
This weekend does not feature any TOC qualifying tournaments because of the Thanksgiving break. The following week features three qualifying tournaments, headlined by the George Mason University Patriot Games Tournament in Fairfax, Virginia, which is the last big national circuit tournament of the first semester. George Mason serves as the final opportunity for extemepers to demonstrate that they are worthy of a bid to the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin. Other TOC tournament that will run opposite George Mason are the George C. Armstrong Heart of Illinois Invitational in Peoria, Illinois and the Princeton Classic in Princeton, New Jersey.
Here are the results of the 2013 Villiger Tournament (Click here for tab sheets)