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Last month, the Bronx High School of Science in New York City hosted their annual New York City Invitational Tournament and Trinity Preparatory School (FL) continued their impressive showing on the national circuit, taking the top two places. Nathaniel Saffran won his first national circuit title over the season by five ranks over Justin Graham, who won the Wake Forest National Earlybird in September. Christopher Mayer of Montville Township High School (NJ) finished in third place, eight ranks behind Saffran.
Saffran’s victory was owed largely to his impressive showing in preliminary rounds, which he exited with a score of six, and a dominating performance in his semi-final round, where he took straight 1’s. Saffran had a cumulative score of sixteen in the final round versus Graham’s eleven, but rough quarter-final and semi-final performances were too much for Graham to overcome to win the tournament.
Saffran will earn forty National Points Race points for his victory. All of the finalists earn National Points Race points with the exception of Vaikunth Balaji of Ridge High Schol (NJ), this year’s Yale champion, as he finished seventh. National Points Race points are only awarded to the top six for fifth tier tournaments.
Several extempers in the final round improved on their performances from last year’s event. Graham moved up one spot from third to second, while Charlie Barton of Regis High School (NY) and Jacob Levenson of Nova Senior High School (FL) moved from the semi-finals into the final round. Barton took fourth at the tournament, while Levenson finished sixth.
Here are the results of the 2015 New York City Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):