On January 20th, 2021, Case Western's Mock Trial team issued a challenge. "either enter the courtroom with enough competitive force to give us a losing record, or lose enough that we can actually place at a tournament." We would like to thank Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Cincinnati, and Florida State University for rising to that challenge, and extend particular gratitude for letting us achieve the latter, not the former. Yes, Case Western's A team has finally gone a record other than 5-3, placed at a tournament, and left with an award. The drought is over, the curse broken, and the gauntlet overcome. Cool beans, to say the least.
This weekend was not only an eventful one for Case Western's A team. Case B finished with an impressive record of 4-4, made even more impressive by the fact that it came at such a high level tournament with a team of such relatively new mockers. For reference, last year's B team--a team which made program history by helping get two bids to ORCs, and a team which contained four times as many senior mockers as this year's B--went an abysmal 0-6-2 at the 2020 Hoosier Hoedown. To walk out of Indiana with four ballots (not to mention without killing any basketball players mid-round) is a sign of this team's incredible potential and the great things in store for them.
If you're a believer in the zodiac you probably noticed that this weekend was a big one for Earth Signs. Zoe Swenson (Taurus), Nick Vitello (Virgo) and Prateek Dullar (unapologetic Capricorn) all received individual awards distinguishing their performance as fake attorneys. This puts Earth Nation on track to win the internal house points competition, a competition second only to Great Chicago Fire in terms of competitiveness (editor’s note: the Water signs, however, continue to dominate in the courtroom as they do generally in life)
All jokes aside, we are incredibly grateful to have competed against such stellar teams, and no round this weekend presented did anything but challenge our competitors to their fullest, pushing us to develop the skills we'll be using in the courtroom at regionals. We thank Indiana University Mock Trial for their hard work in pulling off truly the best invitational tournament we've seen all season, and wish everyone we saw this weekend the best of luck at regionals.