Two of the Hillsdale College Mock Trial teams traveled across the country last weekend in preparation for upcoming regional tournaments in February. 

Appearing for the first time in the Pacific Northwest, Team 1076 won third place at the University of Oregon’s Frohnmayer Invitational in Portland, Oregon, with a record of 11-4-1. Junior Justin Lee won both an outstanding attorney and outstanding witness award for his performances. 

Team 1077 returned to Indiana University for the Hoosier Hoedown in Bloomington, Indiana, with senior Abigail Wagner earning two outstanding witness awards. Finishing 3-5, coach Jonathan Church expressed satisfaction with both teams’ performances, especially given their limited time to learn their material. 

“This spring, we went to very early invitationals during the first weekend of school,” Church said. “While that resulted in lower ballot totals than we might normally expect, the early practice allows the teams to get the rust off early and follow a scrimmage schedule that we expect to set the team up for success at regionals.”

Knowing they wouldn’t have the normal two to three weeks to work together and prepare their materials for the upcoming semester, junior Caleb Sampson said the teams met over Zoom during Christmas vacation to write their material and prepare for the upcoming tournament. 

“We finished writing our cases about five days before we competed,” Sampson said. “Once we all got on campus, we scrimmaged for three days and practiced incessantly. We got where we needed to be and obviously things turned out pretty well.”

Arriving in Portland on Friday afternoon, the students spent about 50 hours in the city, rushing to the airport after their last round. 

“We landed at the Detroit airport at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning,” Sampson said. “We drove back to Hillsdale and arrived right in time for my 9 a.m. class. I hadn’t slept in 24 hours, but I didn’t miss class.”

With such a successful weekend on the West Coast, Sampson said team 1076 is feeling confident heading into its regional tournament at the end of February. With all of their material memorized so early, the members will spend the next few weeks polishing their delivery. 

Competing a bit closer to home, team 1077 also struggled to memorize its materials in such a short time period. 

“We actually weren’t aware that the tournament was this past weekend until the Monday before because they rescheduled it without our knowledge,” Wagner said. “So we had enough time to write the case, but then we had four days to memorize all the material.”

Wagner explained how the team worked late into Friday night memorizing their directs, cross examinations, and witness statements so they could be prepared by the next morning. Despite their high-pressure weekend, Wagner agreed with Sampson, saying that the early tournament helped situate the team for the rest of the season. 

Looking forward to the regional tournaments, Church said Hillsdale’s teams are made up of mostly returning competitors, giving them an edge this year. 

“Overall, our A and B teams are very experienced with over 80% of the competitors on those squads being returning team members,” Church said. “This is the first time in recent memory that we have an A team roster with only returning members competing on it—having enough returning members to put together such deep, talented A and B squads for the competitive season is a sign of huge growth for the program.”