The fall mock trial season drew to a close for veteran team Kangaroo Court with their fourth-place finish at the University of South Carolina Soda City Trials Invitational last weekend.
Kangaroo Court went up against the University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech University, the University of Florida, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, according to junior and mock trial media liaison Chloe Noller and junior Nathan Emslie. The Hillsdale team swept its first round 2-0, then defeated Georgia Tech 1.5-0.5, before splitting ballots 1-1 in both the third and fourth rounds of the tournament.
Junior Patrick McDonald won an 18-rank individual Attorney Award at the tournament, according to Noller and Emslie.
“He’s always outstanding — whenever he gets up to deliver a closing statement or a cross examination, it’s always like a bolt of energy,” Emslie said. “It’s a lot of fun. So he just did his normal thing, which is being excellent.”
Noller said it has been good to see the team’s development over the course of the season.
“We faced some really good opponents and really stood strong against them,” Noller said. “It’s been fun to see our freshman on the team just really blossom in her character. And then for the sophomores, this is their first time on a returner team — to see them really dig into their roles and have fun with it and grow in their own skill and confidence is really fun.”
Emslie pointed out several performances from the weekend as particularly noteworthy.
“Chloe Noller attorneyed for only her second and third rounds ever this weekend, and she did amazing, even getting sustained objections,” Emslie said in an email. “Phoebe Warren improved throughout the whole season and did a great job on a team full of returners even though she was a freshman, and Victoria Rossmiller was excellent on both direct and cross examination both rounds, surpassing all of her previous performances as a witness.”
Noller said the close of the season has left the team with resolve for the spring.
“While it was a great run, I think all of us have just been given fire to work harder and just get even better for the spring,” Noller said. “I think there were some results that we were a little bit unsatisfied with across the tournaments. So I think that it’s giving us the fire to really push harder and practice more and, for the spring season, to really come out and succeed and do what we know we can do. So I think the skill is there, the hard work is there. And I think it’s all about our confidence.”
Emslie also said the team is in a good place for the next semester’s mock trial season.
“We’re about where we want to be, in the sense that we’re not yet spring prepped, we’re not at AMTA season level preparation, but we’re keeping up with really good programs, and we didn’t get swept by a single opponent throughout the fall,” Emslie said. “So we were always in the fight, and we kept it competitive with a lot of really good programs, which is where we want to be at the season because we want to be competitive with them, or even beating them when the springtime comes.”