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st. marksThe 2014-2015 Extemp Central National Points Race continued last weekend at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational. The tournament, a fifth tier contest in the National Points Race, is one of two tournaments in this year’s competition that allows extempers to compete in International and United States Extemp. In International Extemp, Abhinav Sridharan of Plano Senior High School (TX), who won the Texas Forensic Association (TFA) State Championship in International Extemp last season, finished three ranks ahead of teammate Kishan Srikanth to take the title. Phoebe Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX) tied Srikanth for second place, but fell to third place on a judge’s tiebreaker.  Sridharan is the first Plano Senior extemper to win the IX category at St. Mark’s since the 2010-2011 season.

In United States Extemp, Micah Cash of Booker T. Washington High School (OK), a quarterfinalist at last year’s Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University, successfully defended his team’s championship in the event by beating Lin by two ranks in the final round. Lin’s teammate Matthew Feng took third place.

To avoid double counting in the National Points Race, Extemp Central awards fifth tier points to the six extempers who had the best performances in each extemp category. Despite not winning either event, Lin will earn the forty first place points from St. Mark’s due to her high placing in IX and USX. She will also be credited with a victory in the National Points Race standings. Cash and Sridharan had the same point total when their finishes in both categories were calculated, so they will split the points awarded to a third and fourth place finisher in the National Points Race and receive twenty-four points each.  The six extempers who will receive points, as well as the extemper who finished next out in the competition, can be found at the bottom of the results listing.

All of the extempers who made the semifinal round of their respective extemp category earned qualifying legs to the 2015 Extemp TOC. Four extempers – Feng, Neil Patel of Plano West, Sridharan, and Srikanth – earned their TOC qualification at the tournament due to their performance in both category. Five other extempers earned their first qualifying legs. All of the extempers that earned a qualifying leg are indicated in italics below.

Here are the results of the 2014 St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):

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