Texas and the Southwest have had a lock on top finishes and championships at the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament over the last decade. This year’s national tournament saw the Northeast, a region that dominated national circuit contests 25 years ago, reassert itself as two extempers from the area, Anthony Babu of Concord-Carlisle High School (MA) and Tea Shouldice of Half Hollow Hills High School East (NY), won the International and United States Extemp national championships.
Babu, a sophomore, was dominant in International Extemp, winning his national championship by 33 ranks. Babu also won the final round over runner-up #17 Rohit Vakkalagadda of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) by 10 ranks. He is the first sophomore to win an NSDA national extemp championship since Kevin Troy of Eagan High School (MN) won United States Extemp in 2003. And he is the first Massachusetts extemper to win an NSDA championship in extemp since Marshall Sloane of Milton Academy (MA) won International Extemp in 2016.
Vakkalagadda was making a return trip to the NSDA final round, the only extemper this year to do so. He improved on last year’s third place finish thanks to a strong final round performance that moved him out of fifth place.
The other big story in International Extemp concerned the National Points Race. #2 Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) made his sixth National Points Race final round this season. Needing at least a third place finish to win the title after #1 Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ) was eliminated in the quarter-finals of U.S. Extemp, Cheng did so on the number, beating fourth place finisher Daniel Rupawalla of Tompkins High School (TX) by seven ranks.
It took a cumulative total of 71 or fewer ranks to clear into the International Extemp final round. The cut off was tight as six semi-finalists were within six ranks of that total. Ava Aslinia of Blue Valley High School (KS) would have been in the final round but withdrew from the competition. As a result, Aslinia was credited with a seventh place finish by the NSDA. Mina Bhargava of Edina High School (MN) and #4 Taylor Burris of the Potomac School (VA) tied for eighth place, with Bhargava winning a tiebreaker. Burris was the only extemper in this year’s National Points Race to earn points at all four post-season tournaments. Other ranked extempers fell in semi-finals and included #24 Kajal Parmar of Cary Academy (NC), who finished tenth; #25 Claire Han of Munster High School (IN), who finished eleventh; and #9 Lishore Kumar of Tomball Memorial High School (TX), who finished twelfth.
United States Extemp was much closer. Shouldice, a junior, entered the final round in fifth place – and cleared into finals by a mere three ranks – but won the final round by 20 ranks – 17 of which counted toward her cumulative total – and became the first New York extemper to win the United States Extemp National Championship at NSDA. Brayson Holmes of Clark High School (NV) was the runner-up, finishing five ranks behind Shouldice. Saathvik Kannan of Columbia-Hickman High School (MO), who took eleventh last year, was a further six ranks back in third place. Shouldice is the first New York extemper to win an NSDA extemp national championship since Dan Hemel of Scarsdale High School won International Extemp in 2003.
#12 Evelyn Tsoi of Arcadia High School (CA) entered the final round in first place. However, she finished last in the final round, dropping her cumulative score and causing her to end the tournament in fifth place, behind Isabella Razdan of Lincoln East High School (NE), who made finals after a fourteenth place finish last year, and ahead of Ella Witalec of the Laurel School (OH).
Ali Malik of Monta Vista High School (CA) was the seventh place finisher, missing the final round by one rank. A total of 69 or fewer cumulative ranks were need to get into the U.S. Extemp final and three other semi-finalists were within six ranks of that total. Other notable finishers in the semi-finals included #13 Katherine Lee of Plano West Senior High School (TX), who placed eleventh, and #16 Ellie Sohn of Flintridge Preparatory, who finished fourteenth.
In a departure from previous years, no one who was in the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand National Tournament final round was in an NSDA extemp final round.
This year’s final and semi-final fields were dominated by non-senior extempers. Four finalists in International Extemp and three United States Extemp finalists are not graduating. That includes both national champions. 6 semi-finalists in International Extemp and 3 semi-finalist in United States Extemp are not graduating as well. These individuals are noted in blue on the results listing as they are automatically qualified in their respective category for next year’s national tournament.
Extemp Central congratulates all of the finishers. A final update for this year’s National Points Race will be posted later in the week.
Here are the results of the 2024 National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):