The 37th annual Stanford Invitational took place online last weekend, hosted by Stanford University’s Stanford Student Enterprises division. The online nature of the tournament made it accessible to extempers throughout the country and 76 competitors battled in International Extemp and 58 entries did the same in United States Extemp.
Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) had a great tournament. #4 Brandon Cheng and Ellie Sohn led the way, taking the top two spots in International Extemp. The duo also placed second and fourth, respectively, in United States Extemp, giving them the best performances across both extemp categories.
Cheng captured his first National Points Race title in four final round appearances, beating Sohn by five ranks in the final round. Cheng only took one first place rank but his consistency was much better than other competitors, solidifying the win.
Second through sixth place in International Extemp was separated by a mere four ranks, attesting to how judges split in their decisions. Nathan Cai of Brophy College Preparatory (AZ) was third, Prajval Kesireddy of Solon High School (OH) was fourth, James Logan MLK United States Extemp winner #16 Evelyn Tsoi of Velasquez Academy (CA) was fifth, and Joy Hu of the Harker School (CA) placed sixth.
Kesireddy captured two of the five available first place ranks in the final round but scooped up fifth and sixth place ranks from the other three judges, dooming their composite score.
In United States Extemp, Matthew Abrams of George Washington High School (CO) won a four-rank win over Cheng.
The battle for second through fourth place was tightly contested as Cheng finished second by one rank over Hu and Hu was two ranks ahead of Sohn. Aside from Cheng and Sohn, Hu was the only other extemper to final in both extemp categories.
Robert Fields of the Harker School (CA) and Samuel Ma of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) had a tight battle for fifth, with Fields finishing ahead by one rank.
#1 Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale was in the field but dropped in the semi-finals of both categories. #13 Kate Liu of Plano East High School (TX) entered International Extemp but did not clear to elimination rounds and #14 Abhijay Rana of Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA), who won James Logan’s MLK tournament last month in International Extemp, was eliminated in the semi-final round of International Extemp.
All of the finalists will receive National Points Race points since Stanford was a fifth tier event this year. To prevent double counting, an extemper’s highest finish will be awarded points. Due to the number of entries and if the tournament is online for 2024-2025, it is in the running to move up a tier because of the wide geographic participation of this year’s event compared to prior editions.
Here are the results of the 2024 Stanford Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):
International Extemp
Champion: Brandon Cheng (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
2nd: Ellie Sohn (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
3rd: Nathan Cai (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
4th: Prajval Kesireddy (Solon High School, Ohio)
5th: Evelyn Tsoi (Velasquez Academy, California)
6th: Joy Hu (The Harker School, California)
Semi-Finalists
*Neil Alappatt (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
*Kashish Priyam (The Harker School, California)
*Abhijay Rana (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
*Casey Scheiner (Miramonte High School, California)
*Sumedh Seetharam (Scottsdale Preparatory Academy, Arizona)
Quarter-Finalists
*Matthew Abrams (George Washington High School, Colorado)
*Anthony Babu (Concord-Carlisle High School, Massachusetts)
*Neel Banga (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Robert Fields (The Harker School, California)
*Rishabh Goel (Monta Vista High School, California)
*Maximilian Guo (BASIS Silicon Valley, California)
*Charlie Hui (Westwood High School, Texas)
*Jonathan Liu (Palo Alto High School, California)
*Vansh Mathur (Lynbrook High School, California)
*Siya Mishra (Granite Bay High School, California)
*Vedant Parikh (Dougherty Valley High School, California)
*Radha Sreenivasan (Lake Travis High School, Texas)
United States Extemp
Champion: Matthew Abrams (George Washington High School, Colorado)
2nd: Brandon Cheng (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
3rd: Joy Hu (The Harker School, California)
4th: Ellie Sohn (Flintridge Preparatory School, California)
5th: Robert Fields (The Harker School, California)
6th: Samuel Ma (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California)
Semi-Finalists
*Marco Cisneros-Farber (Gabrielino High School, California)
*Roy Jeong (Henry M. Gunn High School, California)
*Eashan Koseraju (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Ali Malik (Monta Vista High School, California)
*Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
*Kashish Priyam (The Harker School, California)
Extemp Central thanks Stanford University for putting the results of the tournament online.