2010-2011 Extemp Central National Points Race: Fourth Tier Tournaments

The following tournaments have been selected as fourth tier tournaments for the 2010-2011 National Points Race.  The criteria in selecting these three tournaments for this tier is that they had more participation or higher quality fields than tournaments in the fifth tier, but lacked the prestige and/or the extremely wide participation of tournaments in the third tier.

This year, Extemp Central will award points for the finalists AND semi-finalists of these tournaments.  A complete listing of the points that will be awarded will be announced next week.

Tournament #1:  The Yale University Invitational

Taking place several weeks after the Wake Forest National Early Bird, the Yale University Invitational attracts a rich field of competition and has some of the best judging on the extemp circuit.  The tournament has a reputation for running efficiently and it’s not somewhere that extempers want to lie because of its “source check” policy in elimination rounds.  Last year, Aaron Lutkowitz of Montgomery Bell Academy in Tennessee, who placed eighth in the National Points Race, narrowly defeated Nabeel Zewail of San Marino High School in California, who finished seventh in the National Points Race.  Extempers who are attending should keep in mind that every round counts because the tournament is cumulative from prelims to finals.  This explains why Lutkowitz was able to defeat Zewail last year despite losing the final round.

Tournament #2:  The Barkley Forum

The Barkley Forum has consistently attracted some of the best extempers in the nation over the last decade.  Although the tournament has a larger focus on debate, its extemp champions are a Who’s Who among great extempers over the last decade:  Jason Warren (2000), Rana Yared (2002), Dan Hemel (2003), Courtney Otto (2004), David Kumbroch (2007), and Aaron Mattis (2008).  Of that list, Hemel, Otto, and Kumbroch were national champions.  Due to Georgia competition rules, the tournament has to label its semi-final rounds as “tutorials” and final round as an “exhibition round.”  The tournament is not cumulative, but ratings, not judges preference break ties.  Last year, James Mohan of Danville High School in Kentucky, who placed second in the National Points Race and placed second at CFL Nationals and NFL Nationals in International Extemp, edged out Dillon Huff by that tiebreaker to emerge as the champion.

Tournament #3:  The Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions

For the second consecutive year, the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) has been demoted in the National Points Race.  This isn’t because of any hatred for the tournament, because you will find very few tournaments that provide the hospitality, judging, and great atmosphere that the Extemp TOC offers.  Furthermore, you can find very few places that are as beautiful a tournament site as Northwestern University.  Unfortunately, the tournament has not been able to match the field that it was able to build in 2008.  The tournament’s numbers rebounded last year, but its semi-final and final rounds compared to other national circuit events were not as strong.  Last year, Nabeel Zewail of San Marino High School in California won the tournament.  However, the tournament was missing eight of the top ten competitors in last year’s National Points Race and twelve of the top fifteen.  The Extemp TOC now faces competition from the National Individual Events Tournament (NIETOC), which may hurt numbers in the future since teams have to choose where to send their students.  Extemp Central firmly supports keeping the Extemp TOC separate from the NIETOC so as to preserve a better judging pool.  However, we feel that the field of the Extemp TOC needs to be improve to warrant third tier status.