The Mock Trial team celebrates after a victory in February. Courtesy | Hillsdale Mock Trial 

Robin Skye spent 10 years in prison for a crime she never committed. 

She is now suing for legal malpractice, and on April 14, Hillsdale Mock Trial’s A and B teams will travel to Memphis, Tennessee to argue her case before the court.

The story of Skye is one of two fictional case packets that the American Mock Trial Association created and compiled for competitors to study and debate this season.

“There are about 700 mock trial teams competing across the country in a given year, but when it comes to the National Championship, it’s like March Madness,” said Jonathan Church, coach of Hillsdale Mock Trial. “There’s no shame in not qualifying because only the top 48 will make it.”

Hillsdale is one of only seven schools to have two teams earn spots to the 2023 National Championship. They join UCLA, University of Chicago, Patrick Henry College, University of Florida, NYU, and Tufts University.

“We actually heard that the B team qualified before we knew the A team had made it as well,” said junior Caleb Sampson, who was on one of the two teams that competed in the Opening Round Championships in Geneva, Illinois over spring break. “There were a few nervous moments during the awards ceremony before Jonathan Woodward, President of AMTA, said to ‘make room in the van for Hillsdale A!”

The program qualified for the National Championship for the first time in school history in 2022 and has doubled their success this year. 

Church said the team’s success was made possible by the hard work of past students. 

“There are countless students who came so close to Nationals in years past, and our team this season has a lot to be thankful for,” Church said. “Not to be cliché, but we are truly standing on the shoulders of the people before us.”

The students making that trip to compete at Nationals never met the six students who stood outside Kirstin Kiledal’s office in the fall of 2010, nervously waiting for their chance to petition the head of the Rhetoric and Public Address Department for a Mock Trial team.

“I remember it so clearly because they just came and found me, and they were so incredibly excited about the possibility of a team,” Kiledal said.

According to Kiledal, the school moved quickly to establish the team.

“Things just started falling into place. The students were there, the administration was interested, and a young lawyer from Jackson named Trent Harris wanted to coach,” Kiledal said.

Harris headed the program for a couple years, taking them through the growing pains. The team went through a series of coaching changes before Jonathan and his wife Lindsey took over in 2017. 

“Both Jonathan and Lindsey were students here who competed on the team, and they were just the perfect fit for the coaching role once they graduated.”

Since 2013, Hillsdale Mock Trial has consistently qualified for the Opening Round Championships, which constitutes the top 200 teams in the nation. But they had their eyes on the next milestone: earning a bid to nationals.

“Institutional knowledge is everything in this sport; to try and get good enough to make Nats requires a silly amount of leg work,” Church said. 

There are 30 students on this year’s roster, and even though the majority of competitions occur in the spring, the program is in full swing throughout the school year. 

“Our fall workload looks a lot like a trial advocacy class, and then, in the spring, everything is applied,” said Church.

The team meets for two hours twice a week, but senior Ethan Tong says that it’s the time the students devote outside of the meetings that really makes the difference.

“Everytime a new packet is released, there is at least a two hour meeting outside of practice for everyone on the team,” Tong said. “After those original drafting meetings, students then memorize and review on their own to make sure they are prepared.”

The program also brought on a third coach, Sophie Klomparens, to share the workload with the Churches. Tong said her addition has really enhanced the program.

“All the students have benefited, and, especially with the additional workload for Nationals, it’s been really great to have a third coach,” Tong said.

Every team that qualifies for the National Championship receives a brand new case packet, and must scramble to write new arguments and practice new witnesses in the four weeks leading up to the final tournament.

Hillsdale will compete in four preliminary rounds in Memphis. After that, Church said that the two best records left will meet in the final round.

“Our team motto is ‘always in it, never have enough.’ We’re good, but we are never cocky,” Church said. 

Kiledal was also quick to highlight the culture behind the program as a factor of their success. 

“These kids are more than a team; they are a family, and the coaches are such a huge part of that,” Kiledal said.