Tag: Extemp Central National Points Race

by Logan Scisco

There have been three tournaments counting towards the inaugural Extemp Question Central National Points Race since our October edition, one occurring at the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic and the other at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, where both the United States and International extemp tournaments counted for points.  To see a breakdown and basis for the Extemp Question Central National Points Race, please look at previous issues of The Ex Files that can be accessed on the Extemp Question Central website.

The University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic, held on October 18-19^th, and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, held on October 16-19^th, featured diverse fields of competition.  The inclusion of these three additional tournaments into the rankings, which have already included the Wake Forest Early Bird and the Yale University Invitational, helped to break the tie that existed in the number one spot in the rankings in our last issue.  To view the results of the Liberty Bell Classic and the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, please look at the results section at the back of this magazine.

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by Logan Scisco

In our last issue, we broke down the structure of this year’s Extemp Question Central National Points Race.  Points are awarded to competitors based on their performance in three tiers of tournaments.  The first tier is composed of the two major national tournaments, CFL and NFL Nationals, the second tier is composed of skill level national tournaments where extempers must qualify, such as the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin and the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions, and the third tier is composed of ten pre-selected national circuit tournaments.  At the end of the season, the individual extemper who accumulates the most points will be named the 2009 Extemp Question Central National Points Race Champion and will receive a trophy paid for by Extemp Question Central to commemorate their accomplishment.  There is also a team rankings component built into the system, where teams can accumulate points based on how their extempers place in the final rounds of the three tiers of tournaments discussed above.

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The question that has often lingered in the minds of extempers across the nation, especially those who travel the national circuit, has been the question of who the top extemporaneous speaker in the nation has been for that particular season.  In some years, this question has easily been decided by a competitor who has won both the National Catholic Forensic League and National Forensic League national tournaments such as Kevin Troy’s pair of victories in 2005 and Akshar Rambachan’s victories last season.  However, the result that has often occurred is that a collection extempers have won the nation’s top national tournaments and this split provokes the question of who is best.

Although such questions will continue throughout this season and on into ones in the future, Extemp Question Central has introduced the “Extemp Question Central National Points Race” to give extempers some type of way to rank themselves against their opponents.  This points race will give points to competitors based on their performance at recognized national circuit tournaments, both national championship tournaments, and in tournaments that feature distinguished fields such as the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin and the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University in May.  The purpose of the rankings may not exactly be to determine who the best extemper in the nation is, but it hopes to award consistent results by top extemporaneous speaking competitors across three different types of tournaments.

By the time the first issue of this magazine hits the Extemp Question Central website, the first major national circuit tournament of the year, the Wake Forest Early Bird will be nearing its conclusion.  This means that the first listing of this year’s rankings, for the 2008-2009 season, will appear in the next issue.  In each issue of The Ex-Files, this section of the magazine will feature updated points standings, all the way into the CFL and NFL National tournaments, and then giving a final recap with final standings that extemporaneous speaking competitors can look at across the country a week after the NFL National tournament concludes in Birmingham, Alabama in June.

It is Extemp Question Central’s hope that this ranking system will be monitored by the extemporaneous speaking community, and will attract more attention on extemporaneous speaking competitions around the country, especially at CFL and NFL Nationals.

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