For the fifth straight year, the Tufts Mock Trial (TMT) team qualified for the American Mock Trial Association's (AMTA) National Championship tournament which will be held from April 11 to 13 in Orlando, Florida.
While two Tufts teams (TMT A- and B-teams) competed in the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) competition last weekend in Philadelphia, only the A-team will advance, TMT co-president and A-team co-captain Brian Pilchik explained.
"I think everyone who was there would agree it was one hell of a ride," Pilchik, a senior, said. "It was a very intense weekend [and] the competition was fierce. It was challenging, but we had some really phenomenal rounds against some really great teams, and it went well for us."
According to Pilchik, Tufts' A-team finished with five wins, two losses and a tie during its competition, placing sixth overall. Senior Samantha Sokol also won an individual Outstanding Witness award.
Both TMT teams had an opportunity to compete against top schools around the country and the results were very close, Pilchik explained.
"We had one round where the result was based on a tied ballot, and [another] ballot that was decided by a single point," he said. "These ballots can go up to dozens of points in favor of one team or another, so I think we did as [well] as we possibly could have."
Both Tufts teams faced Yale University, the winner of the tournament, and the B-team additionally faced University of Delaware, the runner-up. Mandy Xu, a co-captain of the B-team, said that despite having many new members, her team handled the competition well.
"We were the only team to take a ballot off the top team at [ORCS]," Xu, a junior, said. "Even though we didn't qualify, I'm super proud of [the team members] and they all have wonderful potential."
Xu explained that some of the match-ups are chosen at random, but Tufts was still fortunate to face the top teams.
"It's sort of the luck of the draw," she said. "We ended up hitting the second place team our very first round and the first-place team our last round."
Despite competing against Yale before the B-team, TMT A-team was unable to provide much assistance as they faced Yale on different sides of the case, TMT Co-President and A-team Co-Captain Nick Teleky explained.
"We were able to give [Tufts B-team] some help about [Yale's] style, especially for their attorneys, [but] we weren't able to help a whole lot because we didn't know what they would be doing," Teleky said.
Although TMT only qualified one team for nationals this year after qualifying two in 2013, the team has grown stronger, according to Xu.
"This year we've grown a lot as a program," she said. "We've taken a lot of new members [and] they were all exceptionally talented. It was our hardest year managing because we have limits on how many people we can take to these competitions so it has been very hard ... because everyone is at such a high level."
Part of the added strength comes from the addition of new freshman members, according to Pilchik and Xu.
Freshman Eve Feldberg, a member of the A-team who had no mock trial experience before coming to Tufts, said the teams were fortunate to face such tough competition.
"Going into it I was definitely very nervous because it was the highest level of competition that I had ever been in before, but during the rounds it was really a lot more exciting than it was scary," she said. "All of the teams we went up against were very good and when we go up against good teams, our performance is better as well."
Going forward, TMT members will work together to ensure the A-team is well-prepared for the national championships.
"Our goal as a program is to make sure our A-team does as well as possible at nationals and so when they call on us, we're going to do as much as we possibly can to make sure that we can help them get ready," Xu said.
According to Teleky, TMT's biggest achievement at nationals was a third place finish in 2011. While the team did not officially place last year, he is optimistic about this team's capabilities and said preparations will be rigorous.
"In the last week and a half or so [before ORCS] we practiced two or three hours each night just to make sure we had everything ready to go and it paid off," he said. "Going into nationals, I'm expecting us to have a similar level of preparation. Our team this year is one of the strongest we've ever had so we're hoping that with the right amount of practice, we'll be able to go to Orlando and make some noise."
