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Texas tournaments are usually large and last weekend’s Winston Churchill Classic in San Antonio, Texas was not exception. 100 extempers battled each other in International Extemp, while 116 competed in United States Extemp. Unlike St. Mark’s, extempers were not allowed to double in the extemp categories, so extempers could not earn both of the legs needed for their 2014 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualification at the event.
Phoebe Lin of Plano West High School (TX), a finalist in International Extemp at the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational in October, won International Extemp, beating out Davis Larkin of the Parish Episcopal School (TX), who was a participant at the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin two weeks ago. In United States Extemp, Cosmo Albrecht of Robert E. Lee High School (TX) defeated Jackson Crawford of Klein High School (TX) for the tournament title. Albrecht finished second last month at the University of Texas Longhorn Classic to reigning NFL United States Extemp National Champion Arel Rende in the tournament’s International and United States Extemp categories.
All of the extempers that made elimination rounds earned a TOC qualifing leg. Crawford, Michael Formella of Southlake Carroll High School (TX), and Hasan Syed of Plano West High School became new TOC qualifiers by earning their second qualifying legs at the tournament. Thirty-two extempers earned their first qualifying leg. All extempers that earned a qualifying leg are indicated in italics.
Here are the results of the 2014 Winston Churchill Classic:
International Extemp
Champion: Phoebe Lin (Plano West High School, Texas)
2nd: Davis Larkin (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
3rd: Jan Soto (Harlingen South High School, Texas)
4th: Sagar Segal (Summit International Preparatory, Texas)
5th: Nehali Vishwanath (Klein High School, Texas)
6th: Katarina Antolovic (Plufgerville High School, Texas)
7th: Jonathan Kumar (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)
8th: Mark Wilson (Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Maxim Belov (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
*Dylan Berens (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Matthew Feng (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Gabriel Levine (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Peter Oathout (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Darren Pomida (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Akshay Punnoose (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Chris Rice (Spring Woods High School, Texas)
*Ademali Sengal (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Aldo Sepulveda (Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson High School, Texas)
*David Spector (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Hasan Syed (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Delaine Tubbs (Klein High School, Texas)
*Vishal Vusirkala (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Samuel Wang (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
United States Extemp
Champion: Cosmo Albrecht (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
2nd: Jackson Crawford (Klein High School, Texas)
3rd: Kevin O’Brien (Southlake Carroll High School, Texas)
4th: Reinhart Avery (Spring Woods High School, Texas)
5th: Thomas Yu (Texas Academy of Math and Science, Texas)
6th: Brittany Scofield (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
7th: Ramsha Baber (Manvel High School, Texas)
8th: Jordan Auzenne (Pflugerville High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Claire Berlinger (Clear Creek High School, Texas)
*Michael Formella (Southlake Carroll High School, Texas)
*Patrick Gibbens (Douglas MacArthur High School, Texas)
*Joshua Graham (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Hannah-Mae Greenfield (Plano West High School, Texas)
*Jacob Kramer (Summit International Preparatory, Texas)
*Cameron Littleton (Clear Creek High School, Texas)
*Michael Lupher (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Jake Metzler (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Zachary McNeal (Cypress Woods High School, Texas)
*Finley Patterson (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Gregory Ross (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Ryan Stephens (James Madison High School, Texas)
*Anna Sudderth (Trinity Valley School, Texas)
*Nader Syed (Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson High School, Texas)
*Lucca Timmerman (Clear Creek High School, Texas)
Extemp Central thanks Phoebe Lin for providing us with these results.