Last weekend’s the University of Texas at Austin played host to the 24th Annual Longhorn Classic Tournament, which took place in person after the COVID-19 pandemic forced last year’s tournament to be online. The tournament allowed extempers to double in International and United States Extemp but no one managed to win both as #5 Cameron Roberts of Jack C. Hays High School (TX) and #16 Kyle Letterer of Plano West Senior High School (TX) split the titles.
Roberts dominated the International Extemp final, winning all three first place ranks available, and cruising to a five-rank victory over a bevy of Plano West extempers that were led by Phoena Lin. This marks Roberts’ first National Points Race win of the season in four opportunities.
In United States Extemp, Letterer enjoyed a narrow one-rank victory over Meghna Ittycheria of Lake Travis High School (TX) and also won his first National Points Race tournament of the season. Lin finished third, which made her the most consistent extemper at the tournament across both categories.
Other notable finishes at the Longhorn included a semi-finalist showing in United States Extemp for #2 McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ), who also reached the quarter-final round of International Extemp, a semi-finalist finish by #8 Charles Hou of Plano West in United States Extemp, and semi-finalist placings by #14 Gabriel Bo of Plano West in each extemp category.
The Longhorn Classic is a fourth tier tournament in the National Points Race, so all extempers who reached the semi-final round and beyond will earn points. So as to avoid double counting, Extemp Central will give points to an extemper’s highest finish across the two categories.
All quarter-finalists at the Longhorn receive a bid to the Extemp Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University, while all semi-finalists will receive a bid to the University of Kentucky TOC in each category because the Longhorn attracted seventy-two extempers in International Extemp and eighty-seven in United States Extemp.
Here are the results of the 2021 University of Texas Longhorn Classic (Click here for tab sheet):
International Extemp
Champion: Cameron Roberts (Jack C. Hays High School, Texas)
2nd: Phoena Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
3rd: Madeline Tsao (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
4th: Kyle Letterer (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
5th: Arjun Raman (Westwood High School, Texas)
6th: Krish Shah (Hebron High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Gabriel Bo (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Kelly Hu (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Shreya Komire (Tuloso-Midway High School, Texas)
*Devon Schwartz (Stratford High School, Texas)
*Kaaviya Shenbaharaman (Jasper High School, Texas)
*Jonathan Tubb (St. Mary’s Hall, Texas)
Quarter-Finalists
*Amogh Anoo (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Noah Chao-Detiveaux (Winston Churchill High School, Texas)
*Evaristo Derby Elizondo (St. Mary’s Hall, Texas)
*Audrey Fife (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Carter Hull (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Meghna Ittycheria (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
*Jake Kielty (Moore High School, Oklahoma)
*Anushka Kumar (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Brianna Lemaster (Westmoore High School, Oklahoma)
*Srivaishnavi Marreddy (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Ella Meyer (Boerne High School, Texas)
*McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona)
*Anirudh Prasanna (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Aman Tewari (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Tanmya Tripathi (Woodlands High School, Texas)
*William Tuthill (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Toby Winick (American Heritage School – Broward, Florida)
*Allison Yang (Kinkaid High School, Texas)
United States Extemp
Champion: Kyle Letterer (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
2nd: Meghna Ittycheria (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
3rd: Phoena Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
4th: Jonathan Tubb (St. Mary’s Hall, Texas)
5th: Kelly Hu (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
6th: Grace Fyfe (Spring Woods High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
*Gabriel Bo (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Shriya Bhat (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Charles Hou (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Katherine Lee (Jasper High School, Texas)
*McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix County Day School, Arizona)
*Madeline Tsao (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
Quarter-Finalists
*Abigail Beckham (Northland Christian High School, Texas)
*Flida Etchouekang (Melissa High School, Texas)
*Ryan Faidley (Plano Senior High School, Texas)
*Pranav Gorty (Plano East Senior High School, Texas)
*Shreya Komire (Tuloso-Midway High School, Texas)
*Anushka Kumar (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Anna Lindstrom (Westmoore High School, Oklahoma)
*Kendall Meachum (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
*Ella Meyer (Boerne High School, Texas)
*Anirudh Prasanna (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Benjamin Prewitt (Cy-Fair High School, Texas)
*Cameron Roberts (Jack C. Hays High School, Texas)
*Devon Schwartz (Stratford High School, Texas)
Extemp Central thanks the University of Texas-Austin for putting the results of the tournament online.