The 2020-2021 season has come to a close, which means the Extemper’s Bible can crown its first-ever National Points Race champion!
Congratulations to Mukta Dharmapurikar of Durham Academy, North Carolina, for winning the NPR with 8775 points! She began the year strong with a win at the UK Season Opener and had a consistent string of strong placings throughout the year, including a victory at the Sunvitational, second at the Barkley Forum, and third at Harvard. However, it was her string of exceptional end-of-season performances – championing the Extemp TOC, then finishing second at NCFLs and NSDAs (IX) while claiming the IX President’s Bowl – that brought ultimately helped her emerge victorious.
She beats out Katherine “Kay” Rollins of the Potomac School, Virginia, who places second with 8700 points. Their difference in points (75 out of 8775) represents less than one percent of all points attained during the year; this race was close up until the bitter end. Rollins’ season highlights include victories at the NYC Invitational and Cavalier Invitational, second at the Extemp TOC, third at NSDAs (IX), fourth at Harvard, and most importantly, wins at the UKTOC (her third consecutive championship) and the MBA. With those two championships under her belt, she is the only competitor this season to claim more than one victory at a “national” tournament (MBA, UKTOC, ETOC, NCFL, NSDAs).
In third place is Katelyn Cai of BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona, with 6575 points. Cai began the year slow but had a slew of strong mid-season performances – including championing the Glenbrooks, placing second at Harvard and UT, winning James Logan, and finishing third at Barkley. She carried that momentum into the end of the season, where she capped off her season with a semifinalist finish at the Extemp TOC, sixth at NSDAs (USX), and third at UKTOC.
Ananth Veluvali, representing Edina High School, Minnesota, made a significant jump in the end-of-season rankings to finish fourth for the year overall. While his consistent final round performances throughout the season – including second at Bronx, third at Glenbrooks, and fifth at Harvard – kept him among the ranks of top competitors, it was the tail end of the season where Veluvali excelled. He claimed first place at NCFLs, fourth at NSDAs (USX), and fifth at the Extemp TOC, accumulating 3100 points from those tournaments alone to end with 5975 for the season.
(Disclaimer: While Veluvali is the founder and current manager of the Extemper’s Bible, he does not operate the NPR or influence its methodology in any way.)
Rounding out the top five is Pranav Pattathunaduvil of Plano West Senior High School, Texas, with 5525 points. His resume shines brightly, with a set of extraordinary back-to-back performances in the winter that stand out as one of the strongest competitive stretches of any extemper this year: first at the Glenbrooks, first at UT, and second at the MBA. He capped off his year with a championship at NSDAs (IX) to bookend his impressive year.
In sixth place is Daniel Kind, hailing from Lake Highland Preparatory, Florida. Accumulating 4950 points total, Kind’s most impressive performances include championships at Harvard and the Barkley Forum, second at the Sunvitational, and fourth at the Extemp TOC. Most impressively, Kind is the only competitor in the Top 10 that did not receive an MBA invite, and thus did not receive the 700 to 1600 points for participation that others did, meaning that his competitive prowess shines brightly.
Next is McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School, Arizona, who falls just short of Kind with 4875 points. Paltzik’s top performances include a Yale championship, second at the UKTOC, fourth at the MBA, and fourth at NSDAs, signalling her ability to excel consistently at large tournaments.
Eighth place goes to Peter Alisky, representing Smoky Hill High School, Colorado. While without a definitive championship, Alisky was a model of consistency this year, earning his 4425 points from a wide range of tournaments. Outstanding performances this year include 5th at the Glenbrooks, 2nd at Duke, 2nd at the UK Season Opener, and semifinaling at the Extemp TOC.
Plano West Senior High School’s second competitor in the Top 10 this year is Charles Hou, who had a definitive “breakout” season this year with 3850 points. Hou’s best showings include 3rd at Yale, 5th at the MBA, 6th at the Extemp TOC, and 3rd at the UT Longhorn, establishing himself as a serious future finals threat.
And rounding out the top 10 is Kush Narang of Bellarmine College Preparatory, California with 3650 points. The sole Californian in the Top 10, Narang’s top placings include a third place finish at the MBA, a third place at Cal, fifth at Yale, and semifinals at NSDAs (IX).
Congratulations to our Top 10 finishers!
Here are our 11th-25th place finishers:
11th: Krishna Sanaka (The Hawken School, Ohio), 3475 points
- MBA Invitee (6th Place)
- Season Highlights: 1st at GMU, 4th at the Glenbrooks
T-12th: Gabriel Frank-McPheter (Gabrielino High School, California), 3250 points
- MBA Invitee
- Season Highlights: 2nd at NSDAs (USX), 2nd at the Glenbrooks, 6th at Yale
T-12th: Michelle Jin (The Harker School, California), 3250 points
- Season Highlights: 1st at the Cal Invitational, 4th at Barkley, 5th at NSDAs (IX)
14th: Laurel Holley (Riverside High School, South Carolina), 3200 points
- Season Highlights: 1st at NSDAs & President’s Bowl Winner (USX), 2nd at GMU, Semifinalist at Harvard
15th: Marc Zavarro (Western High School, Florida), 2825 points
- Season Highlights: 5th at the GMU Patriot Games, Semifinalist at NSDAs (IX), Semifinalist at UKTOC
16th: Ethan Jiang (Seven Lakes High School, Texas), 2775 points
- MBA Invitee
- Season Highlights: 1st at Princeton, 2nd at Yale, Semifinalist at NSDAs (IX)
17th: Kyle Letterer (Jasper High School, Texas), 2675 points
- Season Highlights: 1st at Stanford, Semifinalist at Extemp TOC, Semifinalist at NSDAs (USX)
18th: Ashok Ramkumar (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California), 2650 points
- MBA Invitee
- Season Highlights: 4th at the Glenbrooks, 6th at the Cal Invitational, Semifinalist at NSDAs (IX)
19th: Veeravikash “Vikash” Giritharan (Eastview High School, Minnesota), 2550 points
- MBA Invitee
- Season Highlights: 4th at the UKTOC, Semifinalist at NSDAs (USX), 3rd at Marshall
20th: Cade Savoy (Teurlings Catholic High School, Louisiana), 2150 points
- Season Highlights: 3rd at NCFLs, Semifinalist at UKTOC, Quarterfinalist at NSDAs (IX)
T-21st: Jishnu Basu (Plano Senior High School, Texas), 2100 points
- MBA Invitee
- Season Highlights: 6th at the Glenbrooks, 6th at UT, Quarterfinalist at NSDAs (USX)
T-21st: Cameron Roberts (Jack C. Hays High School, Texas), 2100 points
- Season Highlights: 3rd at Extemp TOC, Semifinalist at Harvard, Quarterfinalist at NSDAs (IX)
23rd: Michelle Liu (Ardrey Kell High School, North Carolina), 2050 points
- Season Highlights: 4th at the Sunvitational, 5th at Barkley, Quarterfinalist at NSDAs (IX)
T-24th: William Chien (The Harker School, California), 1950 points
- Season Highlights: 3rd at NSDAs (USX), 2nd at Stanford, Quarterfinalist at UKTOC
T-24th: Anushka Kumar (Plano West Sr. High School, Texas), 1950 points
- Season Highlights: Semifinalist at Extemp TOC, Semifinalist at Harvard, Semifinalist at the Glenbrooks
T-24th: Angela Wang (Plano West Sr. High School, Texas), 1950 points
- MBA Invitee
- Season Highlights: 1st at UT, Semifinalist at NSDAs (IX), Octofinalist at Harvard
Rounding out our Top 50 competitors…
27th: Natasha Banga (Coppell High School, Texas), 1925 points
28th: Allison Hering (Eastview High School, Minnesota), 1800 points
29th: Gabriel Bo (Jasper High School, Texas), 1725 points
30th: Owen Thompson (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California), 1700 points
31st: Ryan Alappatt (Bellarmine College Preparatory, California), 1575 points
32nd: Alex Zhang (Monta Vista High School, California), 1500 points
33rd: Allen Zhang (A&M Consolidated High School, Texas), 1425 points
T-34th: Kelly Hu (Plano West Sr. High School, Texas), 1350 points
T-34th: Madeline Tsao (Jasper High School, Texas), 1350 points
T-34th: Faye Zhang (Eastview High School, Minnesota), 1350 points
37th: Antonina Clementi (Teurlings Catholic High School, Louisiana), 1325 points
T-38th: Iesh Gujral (Eden Prairie High School, Minnesota), 1200 points
T-38th: Praveen Kumar (The Hawken School, Ohio), 1200 points
T-40th: Alex Sorgini (La Salle High School, Pennsylvania), 1075 points
T-40th: Shreyas Siram (Cherry Creek High School, Colorado), 1075 points
42nd: Serena Klebba (Isidore Newman School, Louisiana), 1025 points
43rd: Rowan Haffner (Scarsdale High School, New York), 1000 points
44th: Theodore Gercken (College Preparatory School, California), 975 points
T-45th: Chirag Choudhary (Unionville High School, Pennsylvania), 950 points
T-45th: James Cullen (Chaminade High School, New York), 950 points
T-45th: Josh Morganstein (Miramonte High School, California), 950 points
T-45th: Luccia Yacoub (Gabrielino High School, California), 950 points
49th: Timothy Huffman (Lawrence Free State High School, Kansas), 900 points
50th: Diya Bhatt (Providence High School, North Carolina), 850 points
In total, 237 competitors placed on the National Points Race for this season.
Want to see how you placed? Check out the National Points Race spreadsheet below. If you see any errors, please email james@extempers.org and I will fix them right away!