Last weekend, Louisville, Kentucky hosted the National Speech and Debate Association (NDSA) National Tournament. This was the first time that Kentucky hosted NSDA since 1957. It was also the first in-person NSDA national tournament in three years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
International Extemp ended up as a race between the two extempers who were near the top of the National Points Race all season. #3 McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ) won her second major championship, defeating #1 Daniel Kind of Lake Highland Preparatory School (FL) by twenty ranks. #22 Majid Shabbeer of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) finished third.
Kind, who won this year’s National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) national championship, was trying to become the first extemper to win the NCFL and NSDA titles in the same year since 2011. He led going into the final round by ten ranks, but Paltzik captured an impressive nine first place ranks from the thirteen available judges in the final round. That allowed her to vault ahead of this year’s National Points Race winner, claim the title, and become the first Arizona extemper to win International Extemp.
Paltzik’s victory also completed a perfect conversion rate when she reached the final rounds of National Points Race tournaments this year, winning five titles in five final round appearances.
In United States Extemp, #12 Peter Alisky of Smoky Hill High School (CO) mounted a furious charge in the final round, going from fifth to first after taking eight first place ranks. Alisky defeated Kush Narang of Bellarmine College Preparatory, who entered the final round with a seven-rank advantage over last year’s NCFL national champion Ananth Veluvali of Edina High School (MN). Veluvali ended the tournament in third place to cap off a season where he finished in the top three of each of the four major tournaments.
Alisky is the first Colorado extemper to win a national championship at NSDA since 2006, when Colin West and Spencer Rockwell claimed titles in USX and IX.
For the National Points Race, Alisky will earn 250 points for his victory, as well as an additional 50 points for winning the final round because USX earned the bonus for having the most competitors within the top twenty-five in its field. Paltzik will earn 200 points for her victory, as well as an additional 40 points for winning the final round. All extempers that reached elimination rounds will earn National Points Race points, with final standings scheduled to be released by the end of the week.
The final rounds, as well as semi-final rounds, featured a lot of non-senior competitors, all of whom earn an automatic qualification to next year’s national tournament. This includes Ajay Gupta of Hinsdale Central High School (IL), #20 Jack Ververis of Trinity Preparatory School (FL), and #14 Gabriel Bo of Plano West Senior High School (TX) in International Extemp, and #13 Kyle Letterer of Plano West Senior High School (TX) and #9 Dev Ahuja of Solon High School (OH) in United States Extemp. All extempers who were not seniors and who achieved an automatic qualification to next year’s nationals are indicated in the results listing in blue.
In terms of Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifications for next year, all quarter-finalists in their respective categories earn a bid leg to the Extemp TOC at Northwestern University, while all finalists and semi-finalists earn an automatic qualification to next year’s University of Kentucky TOC.
Here are the results of the 2022 National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
International Extemp
National Champion: McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona)
2nd: Daniel Kind (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
3rd: Majid Shabbeer (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
4th: Ajay Gupta (Hinsdale Central High School, Illinois)
5th: Jack Ververis (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
6th: Gabriel Bo (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
7th: Zachary Akeson (Summit Christian Academy, Missouri)
8th: Shreyas Sriram (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado)
9th: Phoena Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
10th: Clara Son (Orange County School of the Arts, California)
11th: Natasha Banga (Coppell High School, Texas)
12th: Sinan Kassim (NSU University School, Florida)
13th: John Crump III (Truman High School, Missouri)
14th: Jude Rost (Oak Grove High School, Mississippi)
Quarter-Finalists
*Rishika Bansal (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Brooke Bothner (Bozeman High School, Montana)
*Lance Brightmire (Tulsa Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Amy Cao (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Pinak Chitnis (Solon High School, Ohio)
*James Cullen (Chaminade High School, New York)
*James Gambon (Springfield Catholic High School, Missouri)
*Agrim Joshi (Shakopee High School, Minnesota)
*Arjun Nair (Millard North High School, Nebraska)
*Varun Nannuri (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Allison Nathan (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Daniel Rupawalla (Tompkins High School, Texas)
*Jasjeev Singh (Sylvania Southview High School, Ohio)
*Alex Sorgini (La Salle College High School, Pennsylvania)
*Siddharth Sudhakar (Nova Senior High School, Florida)
*Ezri Tyler (Sunnyslope High School, Arizona)
Octa-Finalists
*Ryan Alappatt (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Mady Beckel (Hoover High School, Ohio)
*Rohan Bharadwaj (Archbishop Mitty High School, California)
*Olivia Bulls (Bozeman High School, Montana)
*Andy Chung (Perrysburg High School, Ohio)
*Bradley Cooper (Willard High School, Missouri)
*Michelle Giovinazzo (Miramonte High School, California)
*Leo Goldberg (Lincoln East High School, Nebraska)
*Alisa Gonzalez (Big Spring ISD, Texas)
*Iesh Gujral (Eden Prairie High School, Minnesota)
*Ezra Joseph (Lawrence Free State High School, Kansas)
*Emily Lawrence (East Ridge High School, Minnesota)
*Scout McMahon (Flathead High School, Montana)
*Gabriel Nagel (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Oliver Owen (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Michelle Park (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Cameron Roberts (Jack C. Hays High School, Texas)
*Cade Savoy (Teurlings Catholic High School, Louisiana)
*Ava Smith (Midtown High School, Georgia)
*Elliot Smith (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
*Lily Stuart (Perry High School, Ohio)
*Siri Ural (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Rohit Vakkalagadda (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Thomas Vandenburg (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Jonathan Varghese (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado)
*Sri Vellakkat (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia)
*Sai Vithala (Jordan High School, Texas)
*Elizabeth Wong (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Luccia Yacoub (Gabrielino High School, California)
*Armaan Yarlagadda (Pembroke Hill High School, Missouri)
United States Extemp
National Champion: Peter Alisky (Smoky Hill High School, Colorado)
2nd: Kush Narang (Bellarmine College Prepartory, California)
3rd: Ananth Veluvali (Edina High School, Minnesota)
4th: Kyle Letterer (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
5th: Dev Ahuja (Solon High School, Ohio)
6th: William Chien (The Harker School, California)
Semi-Finalists
7th: Vikram Sundaram (Solon High School, Ohio)
8th: Alex Zhang (Monta Vista High School, California)
9th: Jonathan Tubb (St. Mary’s Hall, Texas)
10th: Gabriel Frank-McPheter (Gabrielino High School, California)
11th: Praveen Kumar (The Hawken School, Ohio)
12th: Grant Killoran (Marquette University High School, Wisconsin)
13th: Srinath Hariharan (Woodbury High School, Minnesota)
14th: Theodore Gercken (The College Preparatory School, California)
Quarter-Finalists
*Alex Ali (Archbishop Mitty High School, California)
*Kate Carline (Rock Hill High School, Texas)
*Pranav Gorty (Plano East Senior High School, Texas)
*Guhan Krishnan (Mason High School, Ohio)
*Kevin Li (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Vikram Menon (Millard North High School, Nebraska)
*Madi Norris (Lee’s Summit North High School, Missouri)
*Rhea Rajvansh (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Ivy Reed (Clayton High School, Missouri)
*Anthony Reynolds (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Tilly Robinson (Bloomington High School South, Indiana)
*Ava Roots (Stillwater Area High School, Minnesota)
*Amelia Schwensen (Lincoln Southwest High School, Nebraska)
*Madeline Tsao (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Marc Zavarro (Western High School, Florida)
*Faye Zhang (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
Octa-Finalists
*Arnav Aggarwal (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Taylor Burris (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Maya Burton (Pembroke Hill High School, Missouri)
*Sydney Carroll (Battle Ground Academy, Tennessee)
*J.R. Cobb (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Brayson Holmes (Clark High School, Nevada)
*Jason Hu (Strath Haven High School, Pennsylvania)
*Amanda Hulver (North Allegheny Senior High School, Pennsylvania)
*Caroline Koenig (Murray High School, Kentucky)
*Krish Kumar (Tulsa Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Meghana Kunapareddy (Tompkins High School, Texas)
*Anna Lindstrom (Westmoore High School, Oklahoma)
*Anirudh Mani (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Aidan Marks (Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Minnesota)
*Aaron McIntyre (Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School, Illinois)
*Alyssia Menezes (Lincoln High School, Oregon)
*Tanay Nisar (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Anirudh Prasanna (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Ece Sarioglu (Lake Highland Preparatory School, Florida)
*Sumedh Seetharam (Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, Arizona)
*Ensara Sejko (Downers Grove South High School, Illinois)
*Nilufer Mistry Sheasby (Harvard-Westlake School, California)
*Zachary Stoyer (Chaminade High School, New York)
*Lauryn Sumimoto (Oak Ridge High School, California)
*Hannah Tang (Lincoln East High School, Nebraska)
*Savannah Thomas (Carlsbad High School, California)
*Eli Toney (Pembroke Hill High School, Missouri)
*Evelyn Tsoi (Arcadia High School, California)
*Rani Vakharia (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Anusha Yadav (Fargo Davies High School, North Dakota)
Extemp Central thanks the National Speech and Debate Association for posting the results of the tournament online.