With restacked teams, Hillsdale College mock trial competed in its final two invitational tournaments of the year with Hillsdale College’s A Team taking home a second place trophy.
Mock trial recently restacked its three teams in preparation for the spring national qualifying tournaments. Hillsdale’s A Team competed Nov. 19-20 in the Big Red Invitational Tournament at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Hillsdale’s C Team competed Saturday and Sunday in the Queen City Invitational Tournament at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hillsdale’s B team didn’t compete, because of scheduling conflicts.
Hillsdale’s A Team placed second with a 6-2 record, only losing to Ohio State University in the last round. Ohio State’s A Team placed first, and Cornell University placed third. “This was a big opportunity to test ourselves against some quality schools,” team captain senior Jon Church said. “Our restacked team had been together for about a week before the tournament, and everyone meshed super well. This is one of those tournaments that people look out for in the course of the season. Only exclusively top quality teams receive invites.”
After restacking, the team quickly settled on a case theory and employed its best talent at the tournament.
“It was really great to see our seniors do what they do best. I was particularly impressed with Kristiana Mork and Cheyenne Trimels,” said Church. “Kristana’s emotional appeal is very effective and really important to our case when we are defending an aggrieved party. This was my first time seeing Cheyenne as a witness this year, and she is incredible. Her portrayal of her character brings authenticity to our case, and I think the judges really like that.”
Church said he was optimistic about the team’s performance compared to that of other institutions.
Although Hillsdale’s C Team, which consists of mostly freshmen, didn’t place with its 3-5 record, it did manage to take ballots away from some of the most proficient mock trial teams in the nation.
“We went against very tough schools but the freshman held up so well that they actually took a ballot off of Wheaton A, a team that regularly qualifies for nationals,” team captain senior Rachel Umaña said.
Hillsdale’s C Team had a few weeks to prepare for the tournament and spent the time rehearsing its case theory and memorizing roles.
“A lot of the memorizing happens close to tournament time, so I was very proud that they were able to pull this case together in such a short amount of time,” Umaña said.
Freshman Lucas O’Hanian was able to adjust to the new case theory and different roles quickly, he said.
“I’ve actually played a different witness every tournament, so it’s not actually too difficult; I am used to switching around,” O’Hanian said.
The tough competition gave the freshmen some good experience in seeing the strategies of quality opponents, Umaña said. O’Hanian said he particularly remembers a strategy Wheaton A team used that was effective.
“They had this really bold and dynamic theme of the petitioner having three strikes, then she was out,” he said. “They used it in everything, like having a witness say, ‘Yeah, Riley Winter really struck out at our company.’ It made it really hard to defend our client, but we still found a way to get one ballot against them.”
Members of all three teams said they are excited to take their experience from the invitational season and use it in national qualifying tournaments in the spring, Church said. The next tournament is at the University of Michigan in January.
