The University of California-Berkeley hosted eighty-two extempers this year in a virtual environment for its California Invitational, one of the largest and most competitive tournaments on the West Coast. In the cumulative tournament, Thomas Vandenburg of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) defeated #7 William Chien of the Harker School (CA) by two ranks to claim the title. Chien was attempting to win back-to-back titles after capturing the Palm Classic’s International Extemp Championship a week earlier.
Vandenburg will earn 100 points in the National Points Race for his win as the California Invitational is a third tier event.
#24 Natasha Banga of Coppell High School (TX) was the only out of state finalist. She reached her second National Points Race final round of the year and finished fourth.
Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) had two finalists. Majid Shabbeer was third and #21 Francis Olakangil was fifth.
Akul Murthy of Lynbrook High School (CA) rounded out the final, taking sixth.
#14 Michelle Jin of the Harker School was the defending champion but her run in the tournament ended in quarter-finals.
Other National Points Race notables who dropped in the quarter-final round included #18 Vansh Mathur of Cupertino High School (CA) and #22 Theodore Gercken of the College Preparatory School (CA).
All elimination round participants earned a qualifying leg to the Extemp TOC at Northwestern University, while all semi-finalists and beyond earned a qualifying leg to the UK TOC.
Here are the results of the 2022 California Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):