#9 Katherine Lee of Plano West Senior High School was the highest ranked competitor in the field and she lived up to her ranking, winning the tournament by nine ranks. Lee took four of the five available first place ranks in the final round, defeating Skyler Burrus of American Heritage School – Palm Beach (FL).
The victory was Lee’s second of the season as she was the winner of the International Extemp half of the University of Texas-Longhorn Classic in early December.
#13 Charlotte Reitman of the University School (FL) notched her third top three placing in a National Points Race event in as many final round appearances. Reitman tied Burrus in the final round with a 17 rank composite score but lost a judges preference tiebreaker 3-2.
Southern competitors made up the bottom half of the final round. Noah Darby of St. Thomas More Catholic High School (LA) was fourth, Al Zaidi of Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy (FL) was fifth, and Charlie Hui of Westwood High School (TX) was sixth. Darby finished three ranks ahead of Zaidi and Hui and Zaidi earned a fifth place tiebreak through another 3-2 judges decision.
Plano West maintained its strong record on the national circuit, placing three competitors in the top 12. No other school matched that mark or had more than one competitor reach semi-finals.
Lee will earn 70 points toward the National Points Race for winning, and all of the competitors who reached the semi-final round will be credited with points. New National Points Race standings will go up tomorrow.
Here are the results of the 2024 Barkley Forum (Click here for tab sheet):