2015 Barkley Forum: Wexler Thwarts Anderson’s Title Defense, Gives Nova Its Third Barkley Win Since 2002

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More than seventy extempers took part in this year’s Barkley Forum, a fourth tier tournament in the National Points Race.  The competition took place on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Noah Wexler of Nova Senior High School (FL) won his first National Points Race tournament and second Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifying event of the year, thwarting Brian Anderson‘s attempt of winning back-to-back titles. Anderson, who competes for LaRue County High School (KY), finished two ranks behind Wexler in the final. Wexler won the tournament without taking a first place rank among the three judges who oversaw the final round, but his 2-2-3 composite was enough to defeat his competitors, none of whom received more than one first place rank. Thomas Abel of the Delbarton School (NJ) placed third, but finished a mere two ranks behind Wexler as well. An errant sixth place rank cost Abel the tournament as it negated his other two ranks – a first and a second – and left him with a composite of nine. Abel’s 1-2-6 score tied him with Anderson, and Anderson won the tiebreak due to speaker points.

As a result of his victory, Wexler will receive seventy points in the National Points Race.

Wexler’s win marks the third time since 2002 that an extemper from Nova High School has won the Barkley Forum. No other school has had multiple winners in that time span. In addition to Wexler, Rana Yared won the event in 2002 – which was the first time that a female extemper won the Barkley Forum – and Jason Bernstein won in 2009. Nova had two extempers in the final, with Oscar Larraza finishing three ranks behind Wexler and taking fourth place.

Ben Tobin of Lake Braddock High School (VA) reached his second National Points Race final of the year at the Barkley Forum and finished fifth. Connor Leech of Durham Academy (NC) made his first appearance in a National Points Race final, finishing sixth.

Although Anderson was not able to defend his extemp title, he did win Oral Interpretation, which might be the first time in the history of the Barkley Forum that a competitor who primarily does extemp has won that category.

All of the extempers who reached the semi-final round earned qualifying legs to the 2015 Extemp TOC at Northwestern University. Each of the six extempers in the final round has previously qualified to the TOC. Four extempers, all of whom are indicated in italics in the results listing, earned their first qualifying leg.

The finalists also earned an automatic qualification to the University of Kentucky TOC in April.

Here are the results of the 2015 Barkley Forum (Click here for tab sheet):

Champion: Noah Wexler (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
2nd: Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
3rd: Thomas Abel (The Delbarton School, New Jersey)
4th: Oscar Larraza (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
5th: Ben Tobin (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
6th: Connor Leech (Durham Academy, North Carolina)

Semi-Finalists

*Keegan S. Hasson (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Jacob Levenson (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Prateek Shah (Southside High School, South Carolina)
*McClean Stewart (Saint James School, Alabama)
*Sanjay Supan (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Michael Wang (Dreyfoos School of the Arts, Florida)

Quarter-Finalists

*Pearce Barringer (Saint James School, Alabama)
*Jack Beedle (Salem High School, Virginia)
*Mary Breen (Gwynedd Mercy Academy, Pennsylvania)
*Sydney Britton (American Heritage School, Florida)
*Lane Hedrick (Rowan County Senior High School, Kentucky)
*Andrew Langford (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Christopher Lee (Regis High School, New York)
*Giancarlo Musetti (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Yvana Petros (Hawken School, Ohio)
*Max Rabb (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
*Samhitha Sunkara (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
*Bradley Wascher (Saint James School, Alabama)

Extemp Central thanks Bill Thompson for linking us to the tab sheet and thanks Emory University for putting the results of the tournament online.