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This year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin, the season’s first major extemp tournament, produced the only tie in tournament history as two-time defending champion Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) and Josh Wartel of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA) had the same forty-five rank composite at the end of ten rounds of competition. The pair settled the tie in the tournament’s Exhibition Round with the ranks of the seven MBA tournament alumni judges determining the outcome. Nellans and Wartel each had a “strike” to eliminate one judge’s decision prior to the round and in a 4-1 decision, Nellans emerged victorious and claims her third consecutive Round Robin title. The victory constitutes Nellans sixth career major championship, which ties her with Kevin Troy for most career major championships. Troy’s record has stood unchallenged for the better part of the last eight years, but Nellans will have an opportunity to break it at this year’s Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC), Catholic Forensic League (CFL) Grand National Tournament, and the National Forensic League (NFL) National Tournament. Nellans was also the winner of the tournament’s Exhibition Round.
Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) also came very close to making the tournament a three-way tie, as he finished two ranks behind Nellans and Wartel. Saffran finished fourth at last year’s Round Robin.
It took a cumulative score of sixty-four ranks to make the Exhibition Round and the top five finishers of the tournament were at least thirteen ranks above the next out finisher. This is one of the widest margins between the top five and the rest of the field in MBA history.
Here are the results of the 2014 Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin: