This year the Extemp Central National Points Race will keep the five tiered system that was introduced last year. Tournaments in this year’s fifth tier will award points for all finalists, or those that finish in the top six if there are more than six finalists.
Below are the tournaments that will compose this year’s fifth tier of the National Points Race.
Tournament #1: The Wake Forest National Early Bird
Wake Forest starts the national circuit season and for that reason it is important to include it in the rankings. The tournament has some excellent hospitality and is a great way to kick off the season. Last year, Emily Martin of Boone County High School in Kentucky, who placed 22nd in last year’s National Points Race, narrowly edged Rohan Bhargava of Jackson High School in Ohio, who finished 11th in the National Points Race and placed third at NFL Nationals in International Extemp, to become the champion. Wake remains in the fifth tier because of the strength of its field, which is mostly a victim of extemp power shifting outside of the South over the last decade.
Tournament #2: The St. Marks Heart of Texas Invitational
A decade ago the St. Marks tournament would’ve been a third tier tournament in the National Points Race. However, its fields have become very Texas dominated and competitors from other states have ceased to attend in great numbers. That may change this year because the NFL National tournament will be in Dallas so competitors may want to be seen by some local judges that they may encounter at nationals. St. Marks allows extempers to do both United States and International extemp. To prevent double counting, Extemp Central will do what it did last year and rank extempers based on their performance in both categories. The top six in this ranking system will receive points towards the National Points Race. Last year, Dillon Huff of Southlake Carroll High School in Texas, who led the National Points Race for much of the year and won more national circuit events than any other competitor last year, got his season off to a great start by winning the USX and IX portions of this tournament.
Tournament #3: The California Invitational (Berkeley)
Although our friends in California want us to move the California Invitational into another tier, Extemp Central cannot justify that move right now. Tournaments are selected based on the quality of their fields and geographic participation. Like St. Marks, the California Invitational is largely made up of California schools so although the quality of the tournament is rich, with Bellarmine College Prep, San Marino, and Leland High School’s participating, it fails the geographic test. When most of the featured national circuit events are held in the South or East, the California Invitational allows extempers on the West Coast to accumulate points. The points that Jacob Baker of Bellarmine College Prep earned here last year were instrumental in his narrow National Points Race victory last season.
Cal as a Tier 5??? “Because it fails the geographic test.” Sorry Extemp Central….but the quality of competition that you list is top notch and well above a Tier 5. (It also leaves out James Logan) A bit of geography for you…..California by itself is as big as half a dozen East Coast states combined. Not tough for the NJ folks to get to NY for a contest and pass your “geographic test”.
All valid points. There was a lot of discussion about Cal’s status and it will be revisited next season for the tiered system (there has been the idea of going to six tiers and giving Cal a fifth tier distinction and putting it above Wake/St. Marks). As far as NY, I’m not sure what tournament you’re referring to (since we don’t count any tournament in NY for our National Points Race) but Yale has 20+ states attend their tournament so we considered that a wider geographic pool of talent. What tier would you prefer Cal to be in?
Thanks for the comment. We always welcome feedback about our National Points Race and other site content. Again, you make some important arguments and results will be compared at the end of this season when we re-evaluate the tiers for 2011-2012.
Clearly a Tier 4 and at times a Tier 3. The California schools that come are sooooo good, Cal can’t be at the bottom tier. If James Logan were in Utah, San Marino in Nevada, Bellarmine in California and Leland in Arizona……would Extemp Central consider Cal a Tier 5? Something like 6 or 7 NFL finalists in the 3 years at Cal. As a combined extemp contest….that’s tough!!