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The 2014-2015 National Points Race continued last weekend at the James Logan MLK Invitational. The tournament attracted some of the strongest competitors on the West Coast, with California powers such as Bellarmine College Preparatory, James Logan, Leland High School, and Gabrielino High School participating. In International Extemp, Rohan Dhoopar of Bellarmine College Preparatory, who finished third at last year’s National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) national tournament in the category, defeated defending champion Alex Ye of Gabrielino by five ranks. The tournament was tabbed cumulatively and Dhoopar defeated Ye by one rank in the tournament final. Matthew Zheng of Mira Loma High School (CA) took third.
In United States Extemp, Cameron Loftis of Leland won the title by two ranks over teammate Sid Venkateswaran. Loftis won the tournament final by two ranks. Third place finisher Arjun Narayan of the Harker School (CA) placed second in the final round to Loftis.
For the National Points Race, Dhoopar and Loftis will receive forty points for their victories since James Logan is a fifth tier tournament in the standings. Each final round featured seven competitors, so the top six in each category will receive National Points Race points.
All of the competitors who reached the semi-final round earned a qualifying leg to the 2015 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University. Two extempers – Dhoopar and Addie Glickstien of Denver East High School (CO) – locked up their at-large qualification for this year’s TOC. Fifteen other extempers earned their first qualifying leg. All of the extempers who earned a qualifying leg are indicated in italics below.
The finalists in each category also earned an automatic qualification to the University of Kentucky TOC in April.
Here are the results of the 2015 James Logan MLK Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):