W&L’s Mock Trial Team Wins Major Event
Washington and Lee’s Mock Trial team won first place at the Sixth Annual Tobacco Road Invitational Tournament in Durham, N.C., earlier this month.
The Tobacco Road Invitational, one of the biggest invitational tournaments in the Southeast, was hosted by Duke University this year.
Washington and Lee competed head-to-head against Furman, Emory, and Columbia.
Abbie Caudill ’12, internal vice president, found that the most challenging part of the invitational was the youth of the W&L team.
“Of the nine people who competed for us, six are new to Mock Trial, and five of those are first-years,” she said. “It is amazing to watch my teammates who have so little experience compared to the people we are competing against go out and be able not only to hold their own, but also to be successful at what they are doing.”
Competing for the W&L team were first-year students Naphtali Rivkin of Teaneck, N.J., Jackie Yarbro of Suwanee Ga., Samantha Sisler of Worcester, Pa., Elizabeth Elium of Garretsville, Ohio, John Houser of Chaptico, Md., sophomore Christina Lowry, juniors Abbie Caudill of Urbana, Ohio and Nate Reisinger of Urbana, Ohio, and senior Chris Schneck of Chaptico, Md.
During the two-day tournament, W&L participated in four rounds, where two practicing attorneys scored how well they either cross-examined or how strong their closing argument was. Seven out of eight attorneys scored W&L higher than their opponent.
This was the second time in as many years that the W&L Mock Trial team has finished first in The Tobacco Road Invitational.
Christopher Schneck ’12, president of W&L’s Mock Trial, was happy about this year’s win. “This win was a bit sweeter, because we lost so many people from last year’s team and have so many freshmen. All of them have continued to exceed our expectations,” he said.
The team will compete next at the University of Richmond on the weekend of January 21-22.
To learn more about the Mock Trial team at Washington and Lee, visit their Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/wlumocktrial, or follow them on Twitter, mockeybalboa@twitter.
— by Heyward Brockinton ’12
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