63 extempers, mostly from the Northeast, entered the 54th edition of the New York City Invitational last weekend in New York City. The Bronx High School of Science hosted the event.
The tournament ended with a final round clash of defending national champions. Tea Shouldice of Half Hollow Hills High School East (NY), the defending National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) national champion in United States Extemp, defeated the defending NSDA International Extemp champion Anthony Babu of Concord-Carlisle High School (NY) by one rank. Shouldice and Babu each won two first place ranks among the five judge panel in finals and Babu won the final round by one rank. However, due to the tournament’s cumulative nature through preliminary rounds Shouldice was declared the winner.
Al Zaidi of Holy Trinity Episcopal School (FL), a semi-finalist at Yale, placed third. Zaidi finished five ranks back of Shouldice.
The only sophomore in the final round, Daphne Kalir-Starr of the College Preparatory School (CA), also a Yale semi-finalist, finished fourth. Kalir-Starr took the one first place rank in the final round that was not won by Shouldice and Babu, needing it to win a tiebreaker over Aparna Iyer of Ridge High School (NJ). Iyer was in their second National Points Race final of the year after finishing third at Yale.
Kai Forbach of Durham Academy (NC) finished sixth.
The tournament was a fifth tier event in the National Points Race so only those extempers who reached the final round will earn points. Shouldice will earn 40 points for her win. The first National Points Race standings of the season will be posted tomorrow evening.
Here are the results of the 2024 New York City Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):