2014 Barkley Forum: Anderson Secures Third Kentucky Victory in a Decade Over Fellow TOC Qualifying Champion Ansari

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The most notable, and biggest, tournament on last week’s calendar was the annual Barkley Forum for High Schools, held on the campus on Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The tournament is one of the more recognized regional national circuit tournaments, usually drawing a field of the best extempers in the Southeast. The tournament final featured a showdown between two TOC qualifying tournament champions and Brian Anderson of LaRue County High SchooL (KY), the winner of the Western Kentucky University Hilltopper Classic in December, defeated Nida Ansari of Riverside High School (SC), the winner of this month’s Laird Lewis Invitational, by three ranks to win the tournament title. Anderson was a sixth place finisher at last month’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin and his victory marks the third time that a Kentucky extemper has won the Barkley Forum in ten years, which is more than any other state. Isabella Paretti of Cypress Bay High School (FL), who was a participant in last year’s MBA Round Robin, placed third. Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) was the defending tournament champion, but opted not to defend his title at this year’s tournament.

With sixty-three competitors in the field, all of the extempers that reached elimination rounds received a qualifying leg for this year’s Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University. Three extempers – Emma Jackson of Danville High School (KY), Andrew Langford of Lake Highland Preparatory (FL), and Sanjay Supan of Nova Senior High School (FL) – earned their second qualifying legs and secured their at-large berth into this year’s TOC field. Eight other extempers earned their first leg. All of the extempers in the tournament’s final round had already qualified to the TOC.

There will be two TOC qualifying tournaments this weekend: The Pennsbury Falcon Invitational, hosted by Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania and The Apple Valley Minneapple Speech Tournament at Apple Valley High School in Apple Valley, Minnesota. Of the two tournaments, the Minneapple should attract the stronger field and will feature many of the same competitors who fought it out at the Chanhassen and Schwan’s tournaments the last weeks.

Here are the results of the 2014 Barkley Forum (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion: Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
2nd: Nida Ansari (Riverside High School, South Carolina)
3rd: Isabella Paretti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
4th: Elizabeth Kingaby (Central Cabarrus High School, North Carolina)
5th: Harrison Stall (Southside High School, South Carolina)
6th: Cameron James Bonnewell (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida)

Semi-Finalists

*Omer Bensaadon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Armand Jhala (Montgomery Bell Academy, Tennessee)
*Andrew Langford (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida)
*Robert Grady Pickering (Laurel Christian School, Mississippi)
*Sanjay Supan (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Noah Wexler (Nova Senior High School, Florida)

Quarter-Finalists

*Cameron Barkan (Pennsbury High School, Pennsylvania)
*Mary Carol Butterfield (Riverside High School, South Carolina)
*Daniel Greene (The University School, Florida)
*Samantha Koreman (The University School, Florida)
*Adam Hamilton (Bronx High School of Science, New York)
*Lane Hedrick (Rowan County Senior High School, Kentucky)
*Emma Jackson (Danville High School, Kentucky)
*Soroosh MacLean (Brentwood High School, Tennessee)
*Brian Min (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Max Rabb (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Ben Simonds-Malamud (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Rachel Wilder (Legacy High School, Florida)

Extemp Central thanks the tournament directors of the Barkley Forum for putting the tournament results online.