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On Monday, the 2014 National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament will begin in Overland Park, Kansas. More than 400 extempers will compete in International Extemp or United States Extemp in what is the largest speech tournament of the season.
There are five major storylines for this year’s NSDA National Tournament. Extemp Central has compiled them for competitors and casual observers of the national circuit as they participate and follow next week’s action.
Storyline #1: Will Lily Nellans Win the Career Grand Slam?
Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School (IA) has had one of the greatest careers in high school extemporaneous speaking history. Over the last three seasons she has won three Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin titles, three Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) titles, and a CFL national championship. However, the NSDA national title is only major title missing on her career resume and arguably one that needs to be filled to make her the greatest extemper of the modern era. Nellans has been in the International Extemp final the last two years, finishing third in 2012 and fifth last season. She will return to this year’s NSDA in International Extemp, but her road to the title will not be easy. Lyubov Kapko of Tempe Preparatory Academy (AZ), who bested Nellans in last year’s final round, is back in the field and Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), a winner of four Extemp TOC qualifying tournaments this year, comes into the tournament as a favorite to make the final round. A victory at NSDA Nationals would make Nellans only the second extemper in history to win the career grand slam.
Storyline #2: Will Arel Rende Repeat in United States Extemp?
Last year, Arel Rende came out of relative obscurity to win the United States Extemp national championship. Rende, who competes for Booker T. Washington High School (OK), was the first Oklahoma extemper to win an NSDA national championship since the tournament went to its IX/USX split. Since the split began in 1985, three extempers have successfully defended their USX national championship (David Kensinger, Jay Ward, and James Hohmann), and no extemper has repeated as champion in eight years. Rende has been a force on the national circuit this season by winning United States Extemp at St. Mark’s, both halves of the University of Texas Longhorn Classic, and Harvard. He also made the final round of the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) and the Exhibition Round at this year’s Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin. Rende’s quest for another title will force him to run through the same gauntlet he did last year, but more on that later.
Storyline #3: Will Arel Rende Repeat as United States Extemp Final Round Champion?
In addition to defending his overall national title, Rende comes into the tournament defending his final round national championship in United States Extemp. Several juniors have won the USX final round national championship before, but failed to win it the following season either because they did not qualify for the final round, opted to compete in International Extemp the following season, or did not attend the NSDA National Tournament their senior year (Logan Scisco, Courtney Otto, Becca Goldstein, and Dylan Slinger). If Rende gets back to the final round and wins it, he would become the first person since the final round winner was first recognized in 1999 to win back-to-back USX final round national championships.
Storyline #4: Will the 2014 United States Extemp Final Round Mirror that of 2013?
Last year was the first time in NSDA Nationals history that an extemporaneous speaking final round was composed entirely of non-seniors. Arel Rende, Christopher Jordan of Brophy College Preparatory (AZ), Chase Harrison of Millburn High School (NJ), Adam M. Stromme of Eagan High School (MN), Josh Wartel of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA), and Carunya Achar of Cypress Creek High School (TX) competed in that final round and all of them are in this year’s U.S. Extemp field. NSDA Nationals has never had the final round of a category repeat before, but this year that could theoretically happen. If there is a repeat final, will the results mirror those of last year? Rende would hope so, but his opponents, who share three Extemp TOC qualifying titles and an assortment of final round appearances at big tournaments this season, might have something to say about that.
Storyline #5: The Rise of United States Extemp
International Extemp usually attracts the most attention when the NSDA National Tournament is discussed and rightfully so, since the category tends to attract most of the top ranked extemporaneous speaking competitors each year. This year is a different story, though. As Extemp Central revealed last week, United States Extemp would have received the fifty point bonus if there was a National Points Race held this season. Of the top ten in the unofficial National Points Race standings, six are in United States Extemp. Aside from the returning crop of USX finalists, U.S. Extemp also features nationally recognized extempers such as Brian Anderson of LaRue County High School (KY), the winner of this year’s Barkley Forum, and Jasper Primack of Newton South High School (MA), who won the George Mason University Patriot Games in December. Of the two extemporaneous speaking categories this year, USX is the toughest, which means a lot for a category that has been chastised over the years as a lesser event than its international counterpart.