[fblike]
This weekend saw George Mason University host its 10th annual Patriot Games Classic in Fairfax, Virginia. 161 extempers competed and the tournament featured the winners of this year’s Wake Forest, Yale, St. Mark’s, Blue Key, Glenbrooks, and Villiger tournaments. When the tournament ended on Sunday evening Jasper Primack of Newton South High School (MA) captured the championship by three ranks over Brian Anderson of LaRue County High School (KY). Chase Harrison of Millburn High School (NJ) placed third. Primack’s victory puts Newton South High School, a recognized extemp power in the Northeast, back in the winner’s circle of a major national circuit event for the first time since Becca Goldstein won the Harvard National High School Invitational Tournament in 2008. New Jersey placed two extempers in the final, Harrison and Darius Hunt of Ridge High School, which was more than any other state. Defending champion Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) was in the field, but failed to clear to elimination rounds.
In the tournament’s annual Extemp Round Robin, Nellans successfully defended her title and won the Exhibition Round over Harrison 24-7. Nellans and Harrison posted 6-1 records during the competition. Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) took third, posting a 5-2 record. Saffran placed fourth in the general tournament.
All extempers who made elimination rounds earned a qualfying leg to the 2014 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University. Three extempers, Rahul Ravinda of John Champe High School (VA), Harrison Stall of Southside High School (SC), and Andrea Zhang of Ardrey Kell High School (NC), acquired their second qualifying leg and qualified for this season’s TOC. Fifteen extempers earned their first qualifying leg and will have next week’s tournaments, as well as a batch of tournaments in January and February, not including state tournaments, to earn their second TOC qualifying leg. All extempers that earned a qualfying leg are indicated in italics in the results.
This week will feature the last two TOC qualfying tournaments of the first semester: The Dowling Catholic Paradigm, hosted by Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Western Kentucky University Hilltopper Classic, hosted by Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Here are the full results of this year’s George Mason University Patriot Games Classic (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Jasper Primack (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
2nd: Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
3rd: Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
4th: Miles Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
5th: Davis Larkin (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
6th: Darius Hunt (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
Semi-Finalists
*Thomas Abel (Delbarton High School, New Jersey)
*Cameron Bonnewell (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Abhishek Bhargava (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Sophia Deng (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Jad Hamdan (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Harrison Stall (Southside High School, South Carolina)
*Josh Wartel (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*Andrew James Welton (Lake Mary Preparatory School, Florida)
Quarter-Finalists
*Carunya Achar (Cypress Creek High School, Texas)
*Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Omer Bensaadon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Natalia Castro (Jupiter High School, Florida)
*Mark Cohen (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Matt Couch (Myers Park High School, North Carolina)
*Loften Deprez (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Danny Drane (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
*John Fitzgerald (Delbarton High School, New Jersey)
*Molly Gray (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Gillian Grossen (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Edric Huang (Stuyvesant High School, New York)
*Shawn Kant (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Adam Hamilton (The Bronx High School of Science, New York)
*Grant Murphy-Herndon (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Christian Kimbell (Cypress Creek High School, Texas)
*Abhishek Kodumagulla (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Connor Leech (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Jacob McHugh (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
*Andrew McKinney (Danville High School, Kentucky)
*James Miller (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Collin Montag (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Connor Murphy (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Giancarlo Musetti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Rahul Nanchahal (Freedom High School, Virginia)
*Colin Quigley (Holy Ghost Preparatory School, Pennsylvania)
*Bill Peebles (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Rahul Ravindra (John Champe High School, Virginia)
*Jonah Scharf (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*Oliver Sherren (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
*Ben Tobin (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*Nick Verderame (Charlotte Latin School, North Carolina)
*Henry Zelenka (Kent Denver School, Colorado)
*Andrea Zhang (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
Extemp Central thanks George Mason University for providing the tab sheet for the tournament online.