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Nearly one hundred extempers participated in International and United States Extemp at the Winston Churchill Classic last weekend in San Antonio, Texas. The tournament saw two previous Extemp Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifying tournament champions return the winner’s circle as Abhinav Sridharan of Plano Senior High School (TX) won International Extemp and Karna Venkatraj of A&M Consolidated High School (TX) won United States Extemp.
Sridharan’s victory is his third victory at a TOC qualifying tournament this season, more than any other competitor in the country. Sridharan won the International Extemp half of St. Mark’s and the Plano West Senior High School Tournament in October. Shreetika Singh of Seven Lakes High School (TX) finished second to Sridharan, with Mark Wilson of the Parish Episcopal School (TX) taking third. Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin invitee Marshall Webb of Saint Mary’s Hall (TX) placed fourth.
In United States Extemp, Venkatraj won his second TOC qualifying tournament title of the year beating Neil Patel of Plano West Senior High School (TX) in the final round. Venkatraj won International Extemp at the University of Texas-Austin Longhorn Classic last month. Jordan Rojas of Hendrickson High School (TX) finished third behind Venkatraj and Patel.
All of the tournament finalists earned a qualifying leg to the 2015 Extemp TOC at Northwestern University. Most of the finalists in both categories were pre-qualified to the TOC before the tournament, but two extempers – Sir Maxim Belov of Lake Travis High School (TX) and Wilson – finalized their TOC qualification. Five other extempers earned their first qualifying leg, leaving them roughly a month left to finish their at-large qualification to this year’s TOC. All of those earning a qualifying leg are indicated in italics below.
In addition, all of the finalists at the tournament earned an automatic qualification to the University of Kentucky TOC.
Here are the results from the 2015 Winston Churchill Classic:
International Extemp
Champion: Abhinav Sridharan (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
2nd: Shreetika Singh (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
3rd: Mark Wilson (The Parish Episcopal School, Texas)
4th: Marshall Webb (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
5th: Kishan Srikanth (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
6th: Aaron Raj (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
7th: Olivia Feucht (Teurlings Catholic High School, Louisiana)
8th: John Vick (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Shivan Chokshi (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Andrew Guinn (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Allee Johnson (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
*Brianna Leo (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Cameron Littleton (Clear Creek High School, Texas)
*Brady Lu (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Akhil Manda (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Preston Nieves (Pflugerville High School, Texas)
*Darren Pomida (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Meagan Puckett (Clear Creek High School, Texas)
*Tarika Srinivasen (Incarnate Word High School, Texas)
*Samuel Tekie (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Hina Uddin (Foster High School, Texas)
*Christine Vo (Spring Woods High School, Texas)
*Xixi Wang (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*George Zhang (Bellaire High School, Texas)
United States Extemp
Champion: Karna Venkatraj (A&M Consolidated High School, Texas)
2nd: Neil Patel (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
3rd: Jordan Rojas (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
4th: Matthew Feng (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
5th: David Dam (Westwood High School, Texas)
6th: Lekha Sunder (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
7th: Sir Maxim Belov (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
8th: Marcus Ayala (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Jordan Auzenne (Pflugerville High School, Texas)
*Rohan Bhatt (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Franz Brotzen-Smith (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Allison Coe (Sandra Day O’Connor High School, Texas0
*Levi Debose (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Moosa Dhillon (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Jacqueline Doan (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Carlos Gregory (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Jocelyn Hernandez (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
*Parker Leblanc (Comeaux High School, Louisana)
*Dyana Martinez (Saint Mary’s Hall, Texas)
*Anthony Nguyen (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Gregory Pauloski (Lamar High School – Houston, Texas)
*Karissa Powell (Robert E. Lee High School, Texas)
*Danial Samani (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Sankalp Singh (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
Extemp Central thanks the Texas Forensic Association for posting the results of the tournament online.