Live from the Extemp TOC: Zewail Earns Convincing Victory; San Marino (CA) & L.C. Anderson High School (TX) Place Two in Finals

After two intense days of competition, the eighth annual Extemp Tournament of Champions has concluded at Northwestern University.  On a day that began with the announcement of the 24 participants in quarter-finals, Nabeel Zewail of San Marino High School in California, a finalist at Yale, the California Invitational at Berkeley, and the Exhibition Round champion at this year’s Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin, marched through the tournament and won each of his elimination rounds to become the champion.  Zewail was joined in the final by San Marino teammate Oscar Wang, who made his second national circuit final appearance of the season.  L.C. Anderson High School in Texas also had a strong showing, with Haydn Forrest placing second and Shaan Heng Devan placing fifth in his second consecutive TOC final round appearance.  Mirza Germovic of Des Moines Roosevelt High School in Iowa, MBA participant and George Mason finalist, and Valerie Shen of James Madison Memorial High School in Wisconsin rounded out the final.  (More after the jump)

Here were the full results from this year’s 2010 Extemp Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University:

Champion:  Nabeel Zewail (San Marino High School, California)
2nd: Haydn Forrest (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
3rd: Oscar Wang (San Marino High School, California)
4th: Mirza Germovic (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
5th: Shaan Hang Devan (L.C. Anderson High School, Texas)
6th: Valerie Shen (James Madison Memorial High School, Wisconsin)

The round was judged by Ryan Lauth, Steve Moss, Jason Warren, Ryan Murphy, Logan Scisco, Becky Suhr, Michael Garson, Weston Elkins, and J. Hill.

Zewail’s victory is the first by a California competitor at the Tournament of Champions.  He joins Jack Hsaio (’03) and Kevin Troy (’04) as the only juniors to win the TOC.  Zewail won the final round by nine ranks.  The National Points Race will be updated late Monday evening to accomodate the TOC results.  Zewail will earn 100 points for his victory. Wang was the #1 overall seed after preliminary rounds.

Here are the non-advancing participants in the Extemp TOC’s outrounds held earlier in the day.  If you are interested in looking at the pairings, look at the post below this one on the main page.

Semi-Finalists:

*Rachel Yang (San Marino High School, California)
*Emily Martin (Boone County High School, Kentucky)
*Samantha Karas (Lincoln East High School, Nebraska)
*Susan Czaikowski (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)
*Nathaniel Donahue (Durham Academy, North Carolina)
*Haley Wheat (Whitehouse High School, Texas)

Quarter-Finalists:

*Taylor Rayne Smyth (Calvert Hall College High School, Maryland)
*Brittany Bradshaw (Memorial High School, Texas)
*Katherine Leung (Albuquerque Academy, New Mexico)
*Alessandro Pauri (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
*Amy Chen (Flower Mound High School, Texas)
*Teagan Lende (Fargo Shanley High School, North Dakota)
*Audrey Denis (Berkeley Carroll School, New York)
*Grayson Clark (Lamar Consolidated High School, Texas)
*Hani Zewail (San Marino High School, California)
*Maesen Churchill (Lincoln East High School, Nebraska)
*Vance Lindholm (Saratoga High School, California)
*Matt Linn (University School, Florida)
*Scott Hancox (Flower Mound High School, Texas)

For the extempers who did not break into quarter-finals there was a supplemental impromptu competition.  33 competitors entered this competition in the morning and after two preliminary rounds that were evaluated by two judges each, a final of seven competitors was declared.  Here were the results of that competition:

Champion:  Jackie Burt (Schurr High School, California)
2nd: Nicholas Michael Gabor (Calvert Hall College High School, Maryland)
3rd: Lori Lovell (Boone County High School, Kentucky)
4th: Doug Lusco (Ryle High School, Kentucky)
5th: Christopher Workman (Pflugerville High School, Texas)
6th: Alexandra Song (Millburn High School, New Jersey)
7th: Amelia Martin (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)

Each year, the Extemp TOC gives out two special awards to individuals who have done the most in coaching students and assisting the extemporaneous speaking community.  Here were the recipients of this year’s awards:

Coaching Excellence in Extemporaneous Speaking:  Harry Strong (Des Moines Roosevelt High School, Iowa)
Extemp TOC Service Award:  Logan Scisco (Boone County High School, Kentucky/Western Kentucky University)

Extemp Central congratulates all of the award winners at this year’s TOC and hopes that everyone who can attend the ninth annual TOC @ Northwestern University will do so next year.

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