The national circuit resumed after taking a two-month pause for state championship competitions. 89 competitors attended this year’s University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (TOC), kicking off the post-season phase of the National Points Race.
#17 Charlotte Reitman of NSU University School (FL) won her second National Points Race tournament of the season, winning the final round over #4 Waleed Haider of Hendrickson High School (TX) by two ranks. Nick Pienkos of Marquette University School (WI) finished third, one rank behind Haider and three back of Reitman.
Reitman is the first Florida extemper to win the UK TOC since Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School, who won in 2016.
The final round was close as five extempers each received a first place rank. What clinched the title for Reitman was receiving two second place ranks while other competitors received a worse mixture of ranks from the panel.
#15 Tyler Crivella of Seven Lakes High School (TX) finished fourth and #19 Ellie Sohn of Flintidge Preparatory School (CA) took fifth. Crivella was appearing in his third National Points Race final round of the year while Sohn was appearing in her fourth.
Arya Goyal of Scarsdale High School (NY) finished sixth.
Several other extempers in the top 25 made the trip to Lexington for last weekend’s event. #9 Abhijay Rana of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) dropped in semi-finals while #2 Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory, #12 Taylor Burris of the Potomac School (VA), and #16 Austin Bauman of Bellarmine College Preparatory made it to the quarter-final round.
Since the UK TOC was a third tier event, Reitman will receive 100 points for winning and all competitors who reached elimination rounds will earn National Points Race points. The next National Points Race competition will take place next weekend in Evanston, Illinois when Northwestern University hosts the Tournament of Champions of Extemporaneous Speaking, the season’s second major championship.
Here are the results of the 2024 University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (Click here for tab sheet):