Undergraduate Mock Trial Advances to Next Stage of Competition

Photo Submitted

Team T-Rex celebrating with their awards. Front row: Bryton Miller, Trinity Tipton, Madalyn Acton, Julianna Kantner, Vasoula Drosopoulos, Matthew Pollard. Back row: Harrison Merrick, Jared Presley.

The U of A Undergraduate Mock Trial program had a very successful weekend in Norman, Oklahoma, bringing two teams to compete in the regional tournament there. Regionals are the first stage of competition for official tournaments, with top performers moving on to the Open Round Championships in March, where they compete for spots in the National Championship. 

The U of A brought two teams to the Norman Regional: Team T-Rex and Team Pterodactyl. Team T-Rex had another fantastic showing, going undefeated for the third tournament in a row with seven wins and one tie. This brings their total record for this semester to 22 wins and two ties with no losses. Team T-Rex won first place for the tournament out of the 15 teams competing, securing an automatic bid to ORCs. This is the only time in program history that a team from the U of A had scored first at the regional level.

Team Pterodactyl had a 5-3 record to give them fifth place, which earned them an open bid to the next round. This means they may earn a bid depending on the performance of other teams around the country.

Also, several members received individual awards this past weekend. Team T-Rex brought home four individual awards, with Matthew Pollard picking up an award on the "bye-bust" team in his first showing in regionals as an attorney. Freshman Maddie Gwinner on Team Pterodactyl brought home an award with a perfect 20 ranks, meaning she outranked every other attorney for that side.

Team T-Rex

• First Place - Earned Bid
• Bryton Miller - 18 rank witness
• Julianna Kantner - 18 rank attorney
• Jared Presley - 18 rank attorney
• Matthew Pollard - 18 rank attorney

Team Pterodactyl 

• Fifth Place - Open Bid
• Maddie Gwinner - 20 rank attorney

Congratulations to both teams. They have worked so hard to get these scores! The two other Arkansas mock trial teams, Team Triceratops and Team Stegosaurus, will compete in the Springfield, Missouri, regionals on Feb. 24-26. 

The U of A Mock Trial team is a trial simulation-based RSO that competes in tournaments across the nation. Tryouts are held at the beginning of the fall semester.