One of Hillsdale’s two Mock Trial teams took third place in the regional tournament at the University of Notre Dame on Sunday, earning a spot in an opening round championship tournament next weekend.
In order to make it to the opening round championship tournament, teams had to finish in the top seven at a regional tournament. Of the 24 teams competing in this next tournament, the top six will advance to the national tournament, which will take place in Washington, D.C., in April.
In Hillsdale’s three years of having a Mock Trial team, this is the first time a team has advanced this far.
The team that advanced was led by junior Abby Loxton. The team captained by sophomore Philip Hammersley did well, but fell short of qualifying for the next round. Both teams are coached by Keith Miller, who is also the assistant director of career services.
Individually, Hammersley earned the first place outstanding attorney award with a perfect score of 20. Freshman Jack Shannon, a member of Hammersley’s team, earned an outstanding witness award, as did freshman Hannah Talkington on Loxton’s team.
“Our teams competed very well. Both teams did,” Miller said.
For the next competition, Loxton and her team added Hammersley to their roster.
“Phillip is outstanding and his work ethic throughout the whole year has stood out and it’s been infectious,” Miller said. “The whole team has felt spurred on to greater effort and greater excellence by what he’s shown.”
Loxton said two of the attorneys on her team who were also witnesses chose to give Hammersley their spots as lawyers and focus on their roles as witnesses.
“Everything was voluntary, which was really nice,” she said.
Shannon will also join the advancing team as a witness.
While such changes are optional under tournament rules, some modifications to the case, including new witnesses, are mandated for all the teams.
“Once you get to the point where it’s all the top teams, how do you differentiate between them? You throw them a curveball,” Loxton said. “We kind of have to rework both of our cases significantly. So it’s going to be a lot of time over the next two weeks.”
In addition to portraying a new witness, Loxton must also act a character on the defendant’s side as a witness for the plaintiff.
“I was a little unamused when I found out that my character had betrayed our side,” she said, laughing.
Junior Ryan Ahrens, who argues for the plaintiff, said these changes also present a challenge for the attorneys who have to call the witnesses and argue the case.
“Almost everything has to change, be re-memorized, and re-perfected like it was for this tournament,” he said.
Ahrens also won an outstanding attorney award at the regional tournament.
“There’s going to be a bit of a time crunch there for sure,” Miller said. “But that’s exciting as well. I have every confidence that our people will be able to perform the roles.”
The advancing team also features Chelsea Bratten, Luke Frerking, Dylan Hoover, Isabel Kane, Bailey Pritchett, and Natalia Schniererova.
