For the first time in three seasons Harvard held its National Forensics Tournament in person. The switch did not dampen numbers. In fact, the opposite occurred as 232 extempers entered this year’s tournament, 58 more than the previous edition.
#1 McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ) continued her undefeated march through the season, defeating an impressive cadre of extempers to become the first Arizona extemper to win Harvard since Bill McDonald of Brophy College Preparatory did it in 2012. Her win also ends a two-year winning streak at the tournament by the state of Florida.
#6 Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ) did not make Paltzik’s road to the title easy, coming within two ranks of dethroning her in the championship round. Paltzik and Peddi each earned two first place ranks from the final round panel’s five judges but Paltzik’s ability to capture two second place ranks versus Peddi’s one proved decisive.
Paltzik and Peddi put some distance between themselves and the rest of the round as Amy Cao of Ridge High School (NJ) and #5 Phoena Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX) ended up seven ranks behind them. Cao and Lin tied for third with a final round total of 18 ranks. Cao won the first tiebreaker, judges’ preference, three to two.
#21 Kevin Li of Ridge High School (NJ) reached his third National Points Race final round of the year and finished fifth, five ranks behind Cao and Lin.
George Mason University Patriot Games winner Taylor Burris of the Potomac School (VA) was the sixth place finisher.
Several extempers in the top 25 of the National Points Race had their Harvard runs cut short of the final round. #3 Kyle Letterer and #4 Gabriel Bo of Plano West were eliminated in semi-finals, with Letterer dropping to Cai in a judges’ preference tiebreaker. #12 Siddharth Sudhakar of Nova High School (FL) and #17 Tyler Crivella of Seven Lakes High School (TX) went out in quarter-finals. And #7 Jonathan Tubb of St. Mary’s Hall (TX) was eliminated in octa-finals.
All of those who reached elimination rounds at Harvard will earn National Points Race points since the event is a second tier tournament. Paltzik will receive 150 points for her victory, her second at a second tier event this season.
In terms of TOC qualifications, all extempers who reached the quarter-final round earn a bid leg to the Extemp TOC at Northwestern University and the University of Kentucky TOC.
Here are the results of the 2023 Harvard National Forensics Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
Champion: McKinley Paltzik (Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona)
2nd: Sruti Peddi (BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona)
3rd: Amy Cao (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
4th: Phoena Lin (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
5th: Kevin Li (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
6th: Taylor Burris (The Potomac School, Virginia)
Semi-Finalists
*Gabriel Bo (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Nathan Cai (Brophy College Preparatory, Arizona)
*Srinath Hariharan (Woodbury High School, Minnesota)
*Kyle Letterer (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Vikram Sundaram (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Abraham Zhang (Jasper High School, Texas)
Quarter-Finalists
*Dev Ahuja (Solon High School, Ohio)
*Sophia Chaudri (Syosset High School, New York)
*John Cooper (Tuloso-Midway High School, Texas)
*Tyler Crivella (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Katherine Danielson (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Connor Hise (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Anastasia Koch (Eagan High School, Minnesota)
*Kalinn Mecklin (McDowell Senior High School, Pennsylvania)
*Elisabeth Nielsen (Eastview High School, Minnesota)
*Siddharth Sudhakar (Nova High School, Florida)
*Eshaal Ubaid (Syuyvesant High School, New York)
*Akshay Venkatachalam (McClintock High School, Arizona)
Octa-Finalists
*Charly Bisson (McClintock High School, Arizona)
*Lance Brightmire (Booker T. Washington High School, Oklahoma)
*Natu Daniel (Eagan High School, Minnesota)
*Mariana De la Garza (Seven Lakes High School, Texas)
*Max Goldberg (Park City High School, Utah)
*Aradhya Goswami (Syosset High School, New York)
*Claire Han (Munster High School, Indiana)
*Ryder Hebert (St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Mississippi)
*Anabelle Janak (Tuloso-Midway High School, Texas)
*Aadish Kachhal (Cypress Bay High School, Florida)
*Pranav Kalakuntla (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Kasim Khapra (The Potomac School, Virginia)
*Lishore Kumar (Tomball Memorial High School, Texas)
*Matthew Lombardi (Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, Florida)
*Kate Liu (Plano East Senior High School, Texas)
*Gabriel Nagel (Denver East High School, Colorado)
*Ronak Patel (American Heritage School-Broward, Florida)
*Navya Raju (Ridge High School, New Jersey)
*Kaaviya Shenbaharaman (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Param Thakkar (Eagan High School, Minnesota)
*Sophia Trapani (The Chapin School, New York)
*Madeline Tsao (Plano West Senior High School, Texas)
*Jonathan Tubb (St. Mary’s Hall, Texas)
*Alan Wei (East Ridge High School, Minnesota)
*Vanessa Wu (The Bronx High School of Science, New York)
Extemp Central thanks Harvard Universiy for putting the results of the tournament online.