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According to Extemp Central’s unofficial calculations, this year’s NSDA National Tournament attracted 487 extempers, with 242 extempers competing in International Extemp and 245 in United States Extemp. This is three more total extempers than last year’s national tournament. International Extemp is six entries larger than last year, while U.S. Extemp was down three entries. This fluctuation is due to the NSDA’s automatic qualification system for underclassmen finalists and semi-finalists.
The first six rounds of the tournament featured no surprises as all seven competitors in the hunt for the National Points Race remain alive. As the tournament progresses, Extemp Central will provide updates as to how the National Points Race is being affected. One of the big stories to watch at this point is that if Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) reaches the quarter-final round then that mathematically eliminates Phoebe Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX) and Noah Wexler of Nova Senior High School (FL) from the competition as Lin and Wexler would be unable to overtake Graham even if they won the tournament and the final round title.
All four competitors that reached last year’s final rounds – Rohan Dhoopar of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) in International Extemp and Jasper Primack of Newton South High School (MA), Josh Wartel of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA), and Brian Yu of Monte Vista High School (CA) in United States Extemp – cleared to octo-finals.
While there fifty-one underclassmen that broke to elimination rounds at this year’s national tournament, no freshman competitors did so.
Extempers will compete in their two octo-final rounds this afternoon and the NSDA will release the names of the thirty quarter-finalists later this evening.
Below is a complete listing of this year’s octo-finalists. All of these competitors will receive National Points Race points. Finalists from last year are indicated in red, while underclassmen octofinalists are indicated in blue. A competitor’s pre-NSDA National Points Race ranking is also indicated by their name. Those extempers who are not ranked will not have any designation.