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The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) has just released the names of the thirty competitors who will advance to the third day of competition in International and United States Extemp. By tomorrow evening this number will be reduced to six in each event and we will know what the 2015 NSDA final rounds will look like.
A few notable names were eliminated in the octo-final round of International Extemp. Davis Larkin of the Parish Episcopal School (TX), Andrew Langford of Lake Highland Preparatory (FL), and Vinesh Kannan of the Illinois Math and Science Academy (IL), all of whom are ranked in the top twenty-five of the National Points Race, were knocked out the tournament. Kannan and Larkin had finished second and third, respectively, at the Extemp TOC last month.
United States Extemp was largely immune from seeing big names fall with the exception of Jacob Levenson of Nova Senior High School (FL), who is ranked twenty-fourth in the National Points Race.
The advancement of National Points Race leader Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) to tomorrow’s quarter-final rounds means that Phoebe Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX) and Noah Wexler of Nova are mathematically eliminated from the competition. Graham’s advancement also constrains some of the mathematical odds for other competitors. If Graham were to drop before round eleven tomorrow, Brian Anderson of LaRue County High School (KY) would need to get into the IX final round to overtake him, while Josh Wartel of Lake Braddock Secondary School (VA) would need to finish in the top two of USX or finish third and win the final round to do so. Eitan Sapiro-Gheiler of Durham Academy (NC) would also have to win IX or finish second and win the final round to have a chance and Yijia Liang of Upper Arlington High School OH), whose chances of a “double crown” remain alive, would have to accomplish that feat or finish second in IX and win the final round. There is still a lot of mathematical complexity surrounding how the National Points Race could turn out and more detailed scenarios will be given once Friday’s final rounds are revealed.
In total, twenty-one of the fifty-one underclassmen that broke to octo-finals made it to the quarter-final round. Any underclassmen, who are denoted in blue below, who reach the semi-finals tomorrow afternoon will automatically qualify to the 2016 NSDA National Tournament and earn an automatic berth in the 2016 University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (TOC). All of the underclassmen competitors who qualified for the quarter-finals also earn a leg to the 2016 Extemp TOC at Northwestern University.
International Extemp
*Phoebe Alpern (Liberty Senior High School, Missouri)
*(2) Brian Anderson (LaRue County High School, Kentucky)
*(T20) Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*(T73) Charlie Barton (Regis High School, New York)
*Owen Chang (Miramonte High School, California)
*Johnathan Christy (Lee’s Summit High School, Missouri)
*(T58) Justin Cooper (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*(32) Rohan Dhoopar (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Kendall Gardner (Fishers High School, Indiana)
*(11) Jack Glaser (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*(1) Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Matt Greydanus (Grand Rapids Christian High School, Michigan)
*William Hale (Magnolia High School, Texas)
*Lane Hedrick (Rowan County Senior High School, Kentucky)
*Seckin Kara (Dallastown Area High School, Pennsylvania)
*(T141) Elizabeth Kingaby (Central Cabarrus High School, North Carolina)
*(5) Yijia Liang (Upper Arlington High School, Ohio)
*(6) Phoebe Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Varoon Pazhyanur (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Priyanka Podugu (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*(4) Eitan Sapiro-Gheiler (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*(T49) Rupasri Shankar (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Roman Shemakov (McClintock High School, Arizona)
*(T92) Shreetika Singh (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*(T89) Adele Stock (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*(T58) Samhitha Sunkara (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
*Neil Tagare (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*(7) Noah Wexler (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*(22) Patrick Wilson (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*(T54) Alex Ye (Gabrielino High School, California)
United States Extemp
*(17) Thomas Abel (The Delbarton School, New Jersey)
*Zach Avis (Prior Lake-Savage School, Minnesota)
*(T89) Alex Baker (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*(52) Kendra Blandon (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*(T69) Micah Cash (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*(T92) Steven Clark (Byron Nelson High School, Texas)
*Julia Couillard (Downers Grove South High School, Illinois)
*Dylan Dawson (Norman North High School, Oklahoma)
*(53) Cassandra Dinh (Schurr High School, California)
*Berthy Feng (Laurel School, Ohio)
*Andrew F. Figueiredo (Wichita East High School, Kansas)
*Emma Gunnar (Blue Valley High School, Kansas)
*(T13) Ethan Hu (Leland High School, California)
*(9) Shawn Kant (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*(T28) Connor Leech (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Ria Mazumdar (Albuquerque Academy, New Mexico)
*Nathan McClendon (Manhattan High School, Kansas)
*Jake Z. Moore (Lincoln Southeast High School, Nebraska)
*(15) Vishal Narayanaswamy (James Madison Memorial High School, Wisconsin)
*Ryan Olson (Monte Vista High School-Danville, California)
*(T73) Neil Patel (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*(T13) Jasper Primack (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*(8) Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sankalp Singh (Plano Senior High School)
*(T20) Jay Sirot (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*(38) Karna Venkatraj (A&M Consolidated High School, Texas)
*(3) Josh Wartel (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
*(33) Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
*(T92) Brian Xu (San Marino High School, California)
*(34) Brian Yu (Monte Vista High School-Danville, California)