Two of Hillsdale College Mock Trial’s teams, named New-lo Contestant-ere and Actors Reus, competed in their debut pre-season invitational tournaments Oct. 18-20, with Actors Reus finishing in third place overall at Washington University in St. Louis.

Actors Reus, a team of mainly upperclassmen and returning mock trial veterans, finished with a final ballot score of 6-2. New-lo Contestant-ere, the new member team, finished 2-6 at Michigan State University’s Red Cedar Classic Invitational. Senior Chloe Noller, a co-captain of Actors Reus, won an outstanding witness award, while sophomore Aaliyah Moore won an outstanding attorney award, and junior Gabriel Higbie won an outstanding witness award with nearly perfect ranks.

“They were all wonderful, and the awards were incredibly deserved,” Actors Reus co-captain and junior Ty Tomasoski said. “Gabriel and Aaliyah seem to always award together — last year, they were awarded as a witness and attorney at the same tournament — so it was funny to see that pattern repeated again.”

Actors Reus went up against Washington University, Northwestern University, University of Alabama, and Loyola University Chicago for a total record of six wins and two losses, according to Tomasoski. Hillsdale’s team swept Washington University 2-0, lost to Northwestern 0.5-1.5, defeated Alabama 1.5-0.5, and swept Loyola Chicago in the final round.

Actors Reus’ team includes Noller, Tomasoski, Moore, Higbie, sophomore Gabriel Zylstra, senior Victoria Rossmiller, sophomore Lucy Jones, and sophomore Ethan Scroggins. 

Tomasoski said he was proud that the team placed in their first tournament of the year.

“Obviously placing at a first tournament was fantastic, but I think the real takeaway for me is how prepared everyone was,” Tomasoski said. “By the second day of the tournament, it was clear that we had our basics down — everyone was memorized, knew basic objections, and performances sounded good.”

In East Lansing, New-lo Contestant-ere faced off against Ohio State University, the University of Dayton, Case Western Reserve University, and MSU, according to co-captain and junior Brennan Berryhill. Their team lost 0-2 to Ohio, swept 2-0 against Dayton, lost 0-2 to Case Western, and lost again 0-2 to Michigan State in the final round.

On team New-lo Contestant-ere are Berryhill, co-captain, sophomore Zoe Katsaros, and freshmen Sarah Lange, Ella Schuberg, Charlee Amason, Asher McGlinchy, Robert Nordin, Robert Rodenbush, and William Adkison.

“This was our team’s first tournament,” Berryhill said. “I’m extremely proud of how the freshmen performed at their very first college tournament. The fact that they found out they were going to be on the team roughly one month ago and they are already performing at the level they are is a testament to their hard work.”

Katsaros won a near-perfect attorney award with 19 out of 20 ranks, while Schuberg won a witness award.

“Zoe was on fire all weekend and really excelled in her opening statement and cross-examinations,” Berryhill said. “And Ella’s character was super fun, and her performance was excellent. It’s exciting to see the class of 2029 get on the board.”

Adkison said he looks forward to continuing to perfect what the team did well this time around.

“We competed as an organized team, even if a couple of us were a bit nervous, like me,” Adkison said. “There were successful elements to be celebrated and things to improve for future competitions, right where we want to be at this time in the season.”

Tomasoski said getting to face Northwestern was the real highlight of the tournament, despite the Hillsdale team’s loss.

“Northwestern was absolutely fantastic and gave us a run for our money more than once,” Tomasoski said. “That’s exactly what we want — rounds which are good enough to make us realize where our elements are weak, so we know how to make them better for the competitive season.”