Tufts takes third place in Mock Trial tournament

Tufts Mock Trial hosted the 6th annual Mumbo Jumbo Invitational Tournament over the weekend of Nov. 9 and 10 in Anderson Hall. Tufts claimed third place behind Suffolk University and Boston University.

Ben Kurland, co-captain of the Tufts team, stated the third-place finish represented a considerable achievement as well as a good omen for the team’s future success.

“I think it’s going to be a good year for the program,” Kurland, a junior, said. “Obviously the goal every year is to take it to nationals and win the whole thing, and I think we’ve got some really talented people in the program that might allow us to do that this year.”

Kurland explained that, while his team was the only Tufts team to perform at the Mumbo Jumbo tournament, it is one of four teams that TMT currently fields.

Sixteen schools attended this year’s tournament, according to Kurland.

According to TMT co-captain Nina Watts, the tournament was divided into four rounds with two scoring judges per round. Each team was judged on eight ballots.

Watts was satisfied that, while the team’s final record was 6-2, TMT did not lose a single round.

“Nobody beat us,” Watts, a senior, said. “The worst that happened was that we split ballots against two teams, which is not a loss.”

Kurland echoed Watts’ enthusiasm about the team’s performance.

“We had the highest point differential in the tournament, so we won rounds the most soundly that anyone did,” he said.

According to Kurland, the last time Tufts won the Mumbo Jumbo tournament was in 2011.

Kurland also mentioned that he was impressed by freshman Elliad Dagan, who received an Outstanding Witness Award at the tournament.

“[The award] is a big deal, because there aren’t that many of those that are given out, so for a freshman to do that was really cool,” Kurland said.

Senior Samantha Sokol and sophomore Sara Weiss were in charge of organizing and running the tournament. According to Sokol, preparing for the tournament was a major endeavor.

“It is a huge job,” she said. “We have to recruit schools to attend, we have to recruit volunteer judges. ? We had about 75 attorneys and law students come [as judges], and it was totally 100 percent volunteer.”

While the team faced considerable logistical issues in preparing for the Mumbo Jumbo tournament, the successful effort served to boost TMT’s reputation, Sokol said.

“It’s a good way for our school to forge relationships with the other mock trial programs, so that when we compete against them later in the season, we know each and have a good relationship,” she said. “They are really like our friends.”

Weiss said that, ultimately, the event and planning ran smoothly.

“Facilities was super helpful with delivering everything that we needed [and] allowing us to use the rooms,” she said.

Brian Pilchik, co-president of TMT, was pleased with the overall success of this year’s Mumbo Jumbo competition. He noted that all four TMT teams have now placed in tournaments this year.

“The fact that our four different teams during the fall were all able to place in tournaments, including third place at Mumbo Jumbo, means that all of our personnel, no matter where they are, are capable of winning at this type of competition, which is a really good sign for the spring,” Pilchik, a senior, said.

Pilchik believes that a significant part of this success can be attributed to the freshmen on TMT, who he said have performed admirably.

According to Kurland, the massive amount of work TMT put into Mumbo Jumbo has certainly been worthwhile.

“It’s a ton of work that people put in, just to do something that they love, and it’s really nice to have that rewarded and to do well,” he said. “Everybody that was on our team and everybody I’ve met on the other teams are really talented mockers and could probably take it really far.”