101 extempers converged on Northbrook, Illinois to participate in the 44th edition of the Glenbrooks Speech and Debate Tournament, the first third tier tournament in this year’s National Points Race.
After four rounds of preliminary competition and three outrounds, #14 Lishore Kumar of Tomball Memorial High School (TX) emerged victorious, defeating #2 Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ) by three ranks. Kumar took three of the five available first place ranks in the final round, while Peddi took three of the five available second place ranks. Both competitors also had a fourth and fifth place rank dot their final composites.
This was Kumar’s second final round appearance at a National Points Race tournament this year. Kumar placed fourth at the New York City Invitational last month.
Peddi finish second at last year’s Glenbrook as well. Her finish this year marks the third time that Peddi has been in a National Points Race final round, more than any other extemper in the country. Her finishes have gradually improved as she took fourth at the UK Speech and Debate Season Opener in September and third at Yale.
Kumar is the first Texas extemper to win the Glenbrooks in five years. Kate Fisher of St. Mary’s Hall won the tournament in 2017.
Texas had two other final round participants. #11 Robert Zhang of Elkins High School (TX), who took third at the Florida Blue Key last month, finished third and Tyler Crivella of Seven Lakes High School (TX) finished fourth. Crivella was just one rank back of Zhang for third place.
Like Peddi, Crivella was in last year’s Glenbrooks final round and he placed third at that competition.
NSDA International Extemp finalist Rohit Vakkalagadda of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA), who finished seventh in last year’s National Points Race, finished fifth in his first National Points Race final round appearance this season.
Sixth place was earned by Claire Han of Munster High School (IN). Although Han ended up at the back of the final round she was only three ranks away from Zhang’s third place finish, showing how close the final round was after Kumar and Peddi absorbed most of the top ranks.
The Harker School (CA) also had an impressive showing for its team, placing three extempers in semi-finals. This strong showing was put together by Joy Hu, Kashish Priyam, and Gordy Sun.
Some ranked extempers were in the Glenbrooks elimination rounds but fell short of finals. These included #15 Skyler Burrus of American Heritage School-Palm Beach (FL), #15 Arya Goyal of Scarsdale High School (NY), #15 Elizabeth Ovelil of Desert Vista High School (AZ), and #20 Sumedh Seetharam of Scottsdale Preparatory Academy (AZ), all of whom were knocked out in quarter-finals.
Since Glenbrooks was a third tier tournament, all of the extempers who reached elimination rounds will earn National Points Race points. Kumar earns 100 points for winning.
Here are the results of the 2023 Glenbrooks Speech and Debate Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: Lishore Kumar (Tomball Memorial High School, Texas)
2nd: Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
3rd: Robert Zhang (Elkins High School, Texas)
4th: Tyler Crivella (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
5th: Rohit Vakkalagadda (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
6th: Claire Han (Munster High School, Indiana)
Semi-Finalists
*Neil Alappatt (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Noah Darby (St. Thomas More Catholic High School, Louisiana)
*Connor Ennis (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Joy Hu (The Harker School, California)
*Kashish Priyam (The Harker School, California)
*Gordy Sun (The Harker School, California)
Quarter-Finalists
*Skyler Burrus (American Heritage School – Palm Beach, Florida)
*Jonah Downs (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Kai Forbach (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Aayushi Garg (Granada Hills Charter School, California)
*Arya Goyal (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Zane Hensley (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Layden Kennedy (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Francesca Lopez (Ransom Everglades High School, Florida)
*Elizabeth Ovelil (Desert Vista High School, Arizona)
*Abhijay Rana (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Sumedh Seetharam (Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, Arizona)
*Ellie Sohn (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Jia Sood (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
*Lexie Toshav (Isidore Newman School, Louisiana)
*Esther Zhu (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
Extemp Central thanks Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South High School for putting the results of the tournament online.