Two weeks ago the 2022-2023 season concluded at the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 400 extempers competed for national titles in United States and International Extemp.
History was made as #1 McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ) captured her third national championship and successfully defended her national championship in International Extemp. Paltzik took six first place ranks in the final round, defeating #5 Phoena Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX). She is the first extemper to win International Extemp twice.
Lin was trying to return the International Extemp title to Plano West, which last won it in 2021. She trailed Paltzik by one rank going into the final round but capturing three first place ranks in the final round was not enough to overtake the National Points Race leader. Lin’s teammate #4 Gabriel Bo, who returned to the final round after a sixth place finish the year before, placed fourth.
The highest placing non-senior in International Extemp was #12 Rohit Vakkalagadda of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA). Vakkalagadda, who won the California Invitational in February, placed third.
Two other non-seniors rounded out International Extemp, with Siri Ural of Shrewsbury High School (MA) finishing fifth and Stephen Frank of Whitmer High School (OH) finishing sixth.
#20 Jack Ververis of Trinity Prepartory School (FL) placed seventh, missing out on the final round by four ranks.
Paltzik’s victory completes the best season an extemper has had since 2005. She was undefeated at all National Points Race tournaments that she attended, winning nine of them. And since the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin in March 2022 Paltzik won every tournament where she placed in the final round (or top six), establishing a 14-for-14 conversion rate. Paltzik also completed a calendar-year grand slam, last achieved by Kevin Troy of Eagan High School (MN) in 2005, and is the first extemper to win an NCFL and NSDA extemp national title in the same season since Dylan Slinger of Lakeville South High School (MN), who won both in 2011.
In United States Extemp, #8 Kyle Letterer of Plano West, who was the highest non-placing senior in last year’s event, became the second extemper from his school to win the NSDA U.S. Extemp National Championship in the last five years, defeating Faye Zhang of Eastview High School (MN) by 17 ranks. Letterer went into the final round with a five-rank lead and won the final round by ten ranks.
Zhang was a quarter-finalist last year and was trying to become the first Eastview extemper to win U.S. Extemp since James Hohmann, who won in 2005.
Like International Extemp, Plano West had two finalists. Letterer’s teammate #21 Katherine Lee entered the final round in second place but after the final round dropped back to sixth place.
#3 Theodore Gercken of the College Preparatory School (CA), who placed 14th last season, ended his career with a third place finish. It was the seventh time that Gercken reached a National Points Race final round this season, more than any extemper in the country besides Paltzik.
The highest placing non-senior in U.S. Extemp was Meghana Kunapareddy of Tompkins High School (TX). Kunapareddy entered the final round in sixth place and used it to improve their final round placing to fourth.
Nate Watts of Carlsbad High School (CA) was the second California extemper in the final round and placed fifth.
The break into the U.S. Extemp final was close as Srinath Hariharan of Woodbury High School (MN) finished a mere one rank behind Kunapareddy.
Dev Ahuja of Solon High School (OH), who placed fifth last season, also narrowly missed making it back to the final round, ending his run in eighth place.
21 of the top 25 of the National Points Race entered the NSDA National Tournament. Other notable finishes included semi-finalist showings by #13 Aidan Marks of Benilde-St. Margaret’s in International Extemp and #16 Jonathan Tubb of St. Mary’s Hall (TX) in U.S. Extemp; quarter-finalist placings for #9 Pierce McDade of University High School (IL), #15 Isaiah Sohn of Redlands High School (CA), and #25 Nathan Cai of Brophy College Preparatory (AZ) in International Extemp and #2 Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ), #17 Tyler Crivella of Seven Lakes High School (TX), and #19 Siddharth Sudhakar of Nova High School (FL) in United States Extemp; and octa-finalist finishes for #6 Amy Cao of Ridge High School (NJ), #7 Taylor Burris of the Potomac School (VA), #14 Charlotte Reitman of the University School (FL), and #22 Nirja Trivedi of Westview High School (CA) in International Extemp and #23 Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) in United States Extemp.
International Extemp had more of the top 25 competing, so it will receive the 50 point bonus for National Points Race considerations. This means that Paltzik will receive 300 points for her victory in International Extemp from the overall competition and the final round. Letterer will receive 240 points for doing the same in U.S. Extemp. All competitors who reached outrounds will receive National Points Race points.
All of the non-senior extempers who reached the final and semi-final round earn automatic qualifications to next year’s national tournament. They also earn an automatic qualification to next year’s University of Kentucky TOC. They are indicated in blue in the results listing.
Those returning extempers who reach the quarter-final round also earn a bid leg to the 2024 Extemp TOC at Northwestern University.
Here are the results of the 2023 National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
International Extemp
National Champion: McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix County Day School, Arizona)
2nd: Phoena Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
3rd: Rohit Vakkalagadda (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
4th: Gabriel Bo (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
5th: Siri Ural (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
6th: Stephen Frank (Whitmer High School, Ohio)
Final Round National Champion: McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix County Day School, Arizona)
Semi-Finalists
7th: Jack Ververis (Trinity Preparatory School, Florida)
8th: Allison Nathan (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
9th: Aidan Marks (Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Minnesota)
10th: Ava Aslinia (Blue Valley High School, Kansas)
11th: Xavier Ramirez (Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School, Pennsylvania)
12th: April Zhang (Neuqua Valley High School, Illinois)
13th: Lishore Kumar (Tomball Memorial High School, Texas)
14th: Varun Nannuri (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
Quarter-Finalists
*Ravi Bhat (Carlsbad High School, California)
*Nathan Cai (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*John Cooper (Tuloso-Midway High School, Texas)
*Caleb Chung (Pine Creek High School, Colorado)
*Geoffrey Foong (San Marino High School, California)
*Eliza Gunter (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Ajay Inampudi (Shakopee High School, Minnesota)
*Agrim Joshi (Shakopee High School, Minnesota)
*Akshaya Karanam (Mount Saint Mary Academy, New Jersey)
*Dax Laberer (Melissa High School, Texas)
*Pierce McDade (University High School, Illinois)
*Sairam Pantham (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Nilufer Mistry Sheasby (Harvard-Westlake School, California)
*Isaiah Sohn (Redlands High School, California)
*Gavin Sun (Woodbury High School, Minnesota)
*Ishan Tripathy (Jackson High School, Ohio)
Octa-Finalists
*Rahul Balaji (Woodbury High School, Minnesota)
*Gowri Biju (Hamilton High School, Arizona)
*Devarsh Borah (Edina High School, Minnesota)
*Lance Brightmire (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Taylor Burris (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Amy Cao (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Tavishi Chakraborty (Eden Prairie High School, Minnesota)
*Ethan Chen (Monte Vista High School, California)
*Andy Chung (Perrysburg High School, Ohio)
*Kadin Collier (Oak Grove High School, Mississippi)
*Jack D’Angelo (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Elaine Gao (Jenks High School, Oklahoma)
*Abiah George (Aberdeen Central High School, South Dakota)
*Ethem Gulcu (Monte Vista High School, California)
*Waleed Haider (Hendrickson High School, Texas)
*Joy Hu (The Harker School, California)
*Prajval Kesireddy (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Neila Lyngholm (Flathead High School, Montana)
*Carmen Myers (Grain Valley High School, Missouri)
*Ronak Patel (American Heritage School-Broward, Florida)
*Vanee Pattani (Blue Valley High School, Kansas)
*Charlotte Reitman (The University School, Florida)
*Jude Rost (Oak Grove High School, Mississippi)
*Krish Shah (Hebron High School, Texas)
*Kaaviya Shenbaharaman (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Sahana Srikanth (Mason High School, Ohio)
*Athan Swick (Oliver Wendell Holmes High School, Texas)
*Nirja Trivedi (Westview High School, California)
*Anwen Williams (Lawrence Free State High School, Kansas)
*Robert Zhang (Elkins High School, Texas)
United States Extemp
National Champion: Kyle Letterer (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
2nd: Faye Zhang (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
3rd: Theodore Gercken (The College Preparatory School, California)
4th: Meghana Kunapareddy (Tompkins High School, Texas)
5th: Nate Watts (Carlsbad High School, California)
6th: Katherine Lee (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
Final Round National Champion: Kyle Letterer (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
Semi-Finalists
7th: Srinath Hariharan (Woodbury High School, Minnesota)
8th: Dev Ahuja (Solon High School, Ohio)
9th: Vikram Menon (Millard North High School, Nebraska)
10th: Jonathan Tubb (St. Mary’s Hall, Texas)
11th: Saathvik Kannaan (Columbia-Hickman High School, Missouri)
12th: Molly James (Blue Valley High School, Kansas)
13th: Sunny D. Sundaramoorthy (Gabrielino High School, California)
14th: Isabella Razdan (Lincoln East High School, Nebraska)
Quarter-Finalists
*Vishnu Angiras (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Nitin Chandran (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Piyush Chitnis (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Tyler Crivella (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Brayson Holmes (Clark High School, Nevada)
*Aparna Iyer (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Lauren Kim (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Hau Lam Lung (Monte Vista High School, California)
*Chloe Norton (Carlsbad High School, California)
*Govind Pattathil (Hebron High School, Texas)
*Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
*Andrew Romitti (Rock Bridge High School, Missouri)
*Siddharth Sudhakar (Nova High School, Florida)
*Vikram Sundaram (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Madeline Tsao (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Evelyn Tsoi (Arcadia High School, California)
Octa-Finalists
*Bridget Brodie (Claremont High School, California)
*Brandon Cheng (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
*Roseliane Corona (Cy-Fair High School, Texas)
*Zoe Davala (Perry High School, Ohio)
*Riya Devroy (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Nick Dohr (Mullen High School, Colorado)
*Connor Ennis (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Zane Hensley (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Dabeluchi Isiofia (Veterans Memorial High School, Texas)
*Riley Kemna (Neosho High School, Missouri)
*Layden Kennedy (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Anna Kerns (Canfield High School, Ohio)
*Grant Killoran (Marquette High School, Wisconsin)
*Vasu Lakshmanan (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Sarah Lange (Raymond Central High School, Nebraska)
*Noah Leiva (La Salle College Preparatory High School, California)
*Valor Lekas (Lakeview High School, Georgia)
*Ali Malik (Monta Vista High School, California)
*DJ Morris (North Kansas City High School, Missouri)
*Shiv Nagajothi (Jackson High School, Ohio)
*Elisabeth Nielsen (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Anirudh Prasanna (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Shelbee Reeves (Truman High School, Missouri)
*Ava Roots (Stillwater Area High School, Minnesota)
*Vishist Santanam (William P. Clements High School, Texas)
*Sumedh Seetharam (Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, Arizona)
*Neil Shah (Clovis North High School, California)
*Sovia Villagra (Gabrielino High School, California)
*Meredith Vorndran (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Fiona Yan (The Harker School, California)
Extemp Central thanks the National Speech and Debate Association for putting the results of the tournament online.