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National Points Race leader Justin Graham of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) took one step further to clinching the competition before the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament by winning the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions (TOC) last weekend in Lexington, Kentucky. This was the second year of the expanded TOC tournament format and Graham, who placed third in last year’s competition, won the cumulative tournament by five ranks over Samhitha Sunkara of Ardrey Kell High School (NC).
Sunkara and Marshall Sloane of Milton Academy (MA) tied for first place in the final round, with each accumulating a total of sixteen from the round’s five judges. On judges’ preference, Sloane won, but he and Sunkara made up little ground against Graham, who finished the final round with a total of seventeen ranks. Since Graham entered the final round with a six rank lead this was enough to make him the tournament champion, while Sloane finished third.
The tournament attracted an impressive field for a second consecutive year, with five of the top ten competitors in the National Points Race attending (and four of the top five). Vaikunth Balaji of Ridge High School (NJ), who entered the tournament in second place in the National Points Race, was eliminated in the semi-final round. Nathaniel Saffran of Trinity Preparatory, who sits in fourth place in the current rankings, was also eliminated in semi-finals.
All of the competitors that reached the semi-final round and beyond will earn National Points Race points. Graham will receive seventy points for winning the tournament.
Here are the results of the 2015 University of Kenucky Tournament of Champions (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Justin Graham (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
2nd: Samhitha Sunkara (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina)
3rd: Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
4th: Justin Cooper (Scarsdale High School, New York)
5th: Jacob Thompson (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
6th: Neil Patel (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Vaikunth Balaji (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Jack Beedle (Salem High School, Virginia)
*Christopher Mayer (Montville Township High School, New Jersey)
*Nathaniel Saffran (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Shreetika Singh (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Bradley Wascher (St. James School, Alabama)
Quarter-Finalists
*Varun Bhatia (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Eleanor Bock (Nova High School, Florida)
*Collin Brown (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Paul Bousquet (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*Laurel Eddins (Oak Hill High School, Oregon)
*Michael Gao (JBS Law Magnet High School, Texas)
*Nathan Kruse (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*Andrew Langford (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Jorge Rojas-Ortega (Trinity High School, Kentucky)
*Anton Salem (The Hawken School, Ohio)
*Lekha Sunder (Lamar High School-Houston, Texas)
*Jacob Wartel (Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia)
Extemp Central thanks the University of Kentucky for putting the results of the tournament online.