[fblike]
It was a busy week for TOC qualifying tournaments and the University of Texas Longhorn Classic provided a southern qualifying tournament for those seeking qualifications to the 2014 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC). While George Mason University’s Patriot Games Tournament receives the most attention on the first weekend of December, the Longhorn Classic has typically been considered one of the premier tournaments to earn consideration for a bid to the Mongtomery Bell Extemp Round Robin in Nashville, Tennessee. The tournament allowed extempers to compete in United States and International Extemp and Arel Rende of Booker T. Washington High School (OK) took both championships. Rende is the defending NFL national champion in United States Extemp and his two championships at the University of Texas give him three wins at major Texas tournaments this year, as he took the U.S. Extemp title at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational in October. Cosmo Albrecht of Robert E. Lee High School (TX) took second to Rende in both halves of the tournament.
The tournament featured two large fields, with 107 extempers in International Extemp and 102 extempers in U.S. Extemp. The tournament broke to semi-finals and all extempers who made elimination rounds earned a qualifying leg to this year’s Extemp TOC. Fifteen extempers earned their TOC qualification at the tournament, with eleven earning both qualification legs due to their performance in each extemp category. The eleven extempers who did this were Micah Cash of Booker T. Washington High School, Nicholas Curtis, David Dam, and Darren Pomida of Westwood High School (TX), Ayesha Karnik of Flower Mound High School (TX), Jonathan Kumar of Lamar Consolidated High School (TX), Lucy Tiblier and Delaine Tubbs of L.C. Anderson High School (TX), Hinda Uddin of Foster High School (TX), Marshall Webb of Saint Mary’s Hall (TX), and Thomas Yu of the Texas Academy of Math and Science (TX). The four extempers who earned their second qualifying leg at the Longhorn Classic to qualify for the 2014 Extemp TOC were Michael Lupher of L.C. Anderson High School, Kevin O’Brien of Southlake Carroll Senior High School (TX), Jan Soto of Harlingen South High School (TX), and Audrey Zhang of Flower Mound High School. Nineteen other extempers earned their first TOC qualifying leg at the tournament. The extempers that earned a qualifying leg are indicated in italics below.
Here are the results of this year’s University of Texas Longhorn Classic (Click here for tab sheet):
International Extemp
Champion: Arel Rende (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
2nd: Cosmo Albrecht (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
3rd: Jonathan Kumar (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)
4th: Grant Bumgarner (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
5th: Ayesha Karnik (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
6th: Audrey Zhang (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
7th: Kevin O’Brien (Southlake Carroll Senior High School, Texas)
8th: Shretika Singh (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Sophia Alvarez (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Micah Cash (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Jackson Crawford (Klein High School, Texas)
*Nicholas Curtis (Westwood High School, Texas)
*David Dam (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Rachel Evans (Salado High School, Texas)
*Aaron Hockett (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Lindsey Li (Cinco Ranch High School, Texas)
*Michael Lupher (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Simbai Mutandiro (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Priya Patel (Foster High School, Texas)
*Darren Pomida (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Priya Ramamoorthy (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Jordan Rojas (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Anshuman Srinivasan (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Mafaaz Tanzeem (Southlake Carroll High School, Texas)
*Lucy Tiblier (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Delaine Tubbs (Klein High School, Texas)
*Hinda Uddin (Foster High School, Texas)
*Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
*Thomas Yu (Texas Academy of Math and Science, Texas)
United States Extemp
Champion: Arel Rende (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
2nd: Cosmo Albrecht (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
3rd: Nicholas Curtis (Westwood High School, Texas)
4th: David Dam (Westwood High School, Texas)
5th: Jackson Crawford (Klein High School, Texas)
6th: Micah Cash (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
7th: Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
8th: Patrick Wilson (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
Semi-Finalists
*Marcus Ayala (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Harshita Davuluri (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
*Erin Dunbar (Sandra Day O’Connor High School, Texas)
*Marissa Dusek (Royse City High School, Texas)
*Rachel Evans (Salado High School, Texas)
*Michael Formella (Southlake Carroll Senior High School, Texas)
*Ayesha Karnik (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
*Jonathan Kumar (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)
*Darren Pomida (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Tim Roy (Westlake High School, Texas)
*David Slater (Drippings Springs High School, Texas)
*Jan Soto (Harlingen South High School, Texas)
*Lucy Tiblier (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Jeremy Tsai (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
*Delaine Tubbs (Klein High School, Texas)
*Hina Uddin (Foster High School, Texas)
*Sydney Walter (Salado High School, Texas)
*Bobby Wang (Texas Academy of Math and Science, Texas)
*Danielle Williams (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Thomas Yu (Texas Academy of Math and Science, Texas)
Extemp Central thanks the University of Texas-Austin for putting the tab sheet of the tournament online.