Awards ended a short time ago for the 2011 Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament and Dylan Slinger of Lakeville South High School in Minnesota successfully defended the national title that he won last year in Omaha, Nebraska. To win his second CFL national championship, Slinger beat back National Points Race leader Nathaniel Donahue of Durham Academy of North Carolina in a rehash of the Glenbrooks tournament from earlier in the season. Slinger also avenged a defeat two weeks ago at the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions by defeated Ben Constine of Yorktown High School in Virginia. This is the first time in ten years that an extemper has repeated as the CFL national champion in extemporaneous speaking. The last extemper to do so was Jason Lear in 2000 and 2001. Sophomore extemper Isabelle Taft from Henry W. Grady High School in Georgia continued her impressive season, which has included victories at Wake Forest and the Barkley Forum, by placing fourth and Ben Mabie of James Logan High School in California, who was the top seed going into elimination rounds, placed fifth. Brandon Pakkebier of Sheboygan High School in Wisconsin, who was a quarter-finalist at this year’s TOC, placed sixth.
Aside from Slinger’s victory, the other notable event is that Donahue’s second place finish, which is his eighth top three finish of the year, has clinched the National Points Race. While this will make NFL a formality, it should be noted that the second and third place finishers also receive awards from Extemp Central, so extempers who are within striking distance of those spots still have something to shoot for at NFL. The National Points Race will be updated near the end of next week so extempers can see where they stand heading into the NFL National Tournament.
Here are the results of the 2011 Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament. All of these elimination round participants have earned an automatic qualification to the 2012 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University. All of the extempers who made it to the quarter-final round and beyond will earn National Points Race points:
Champion: Dylan Slinger (Lakeville South High School, Minnesota)
2nd: Nathaniel Donahue (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
3rd: Ben Constine (Yorktown High School, Virginia)
4th: Isabelle Taft (Henry W. Grady High School, Georgia)
5th: Ben Mabie (James Logan High School, California)
6th: Brandon Pakkebier (Sheboygan North High School, Wisconsin)
Semi-Finalists
*Gil Avramovich (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Gabe Ferrante (Iona Preparatory, New York)
*Eryn Hughes (St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Florida)
*Lindsay Pearlman (Syosset High School, New York)
*Camille Peterson (Villa Walsh Academy, New Jersey)
*Ashesh Rambachan (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
Quarter-Finalists
*Rishi Bajaj (Trinity Preparatory, Florida)
*Joseph Calder (Cary Academy, North Carolina)
*Kyle Constable (Lee County High School, Georgia)
*Matt DeBari (Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida)
*Ana Guay (Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York)
*Jackson Gzehoviak (Millard North High School, Nebraska)
*Samantha Karas (Lincoln East High School, Nebraska)
*Justin Kieran (Newton South High School, Massachusetts)
*Connor Phillips (North Allegheny Senior High School, Pennsylvania)
*Lavanya Sunder (Lamar High School-Houston, Texas)
*Maria Vasser (Ridgeland High School, Mississippi)
*Peter Vogel (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
Octo-Finalists
*Henry Chapman (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Rachel Cusick (Salina High Central, Kansas)
*Paulina Dedaj (The Ursuline School, New York)
*Robbie Distasio (Marist High School, Illinois)
*Kerry Ditson (Shrewbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Evan Garnick (Milton Academy, Massachusetts)
*Chase Harrison (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
*Brent Heard (Upper St. Clair High School, Pennsylvania)
*Sarah Hennessey (Acton Boxborough Regional High School, Massachusetts)
*Bryt Hiatt (Plymouth High School, Indiana)
*Zachary Klein (Montville High School, New Jersey)
*David Kubancik (Howland High School, Ohio)
*Abhi Mehra (North Allegheny Senior High School, Pennsylvania)
*Curan Mehra (Scarsdale High School, New York)
*Caitlin Murphy (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Lily Nellans (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
*Jay Patel (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Alexia Rauen (Pennsbury High School, Pennsylvania)
*Matt Rauen (Pennsbury High School, Pennsylvania)
*Logan Roberts (Lakeville South High School, Minnesota)
*David Stauffer (Chanhassen High School, Minnesota)
*Prerana Vaddi (Notre Dame-San Jose High School, California)
*Sneha Walia (Shrewsbury High School, Massachusetts)
*Brendan Zehner (St. Joseph Preparatory, Pennsylvania)
As the results show, this year’s CFL had a very stacked field. If these results are duplicated next year, CFL is likely to move up in tiers in the National Points Race.
If you do not want to access the tab sheet, which is linked above, here is a screenshot of the tab sheet for the finalists and semi-finalists:
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