Spring Semester
Regional Tournament
Our C Team kicked off the Regional Tournaments for UIMT by heading to our neighboring state of Illinois and competing in the DuPage County Courthouse, just outside of Chicago. With our C Team competing at their full strength, they showed just how impressive they can be. Right from the start, Iowa C came away with a big win in round 1 over Wheaton A who was at the National Tournament two years ago and was only a few points from being there again last year. Having to finish in the top 6 of 22 teams, there was little margin for error. Our C team's only losses came from Chicago B, a team that was points away from being at Nationals last year and went undefeated at this Regional Tournament. After beating every team they faced other than the tournament champions, Iowa C finished in 5th Place and earned UIMT it's first spot in the next round this season. With six wins and two losses, it was the best record by an Iowa C or D team at Regionals since 2013. This tenacious group was also represented during the individual awards when freshman Zach Springer was awarded as an Outstanding Attorney. Our A and B teams look forward to collecting their own trophies next weekend at their own Regional Tournament hosted by the University of Kansas.
After having the start of our Spring semester hampered by weather, UIMT got back into action at Loras College's historic National Invitational. This tournament was very important as it is our only opportunity this semester to face some competition before the Regional Tournaments. Despite not having a lot of time to prepare, our three teams stepped up and displayed a lot of quality ahead of our upcoming Regional Tournaments. Our C Team had a couple extra hurdles to overcome leading up to the tournament, but they still pulled through to have an encouraging outcome considering the circumstances. Most of their losses were by small margins, as well. The C Team had one award winner as senior member Abby Hudock named Outstanding Attorney. We also saw good success from our B Team as they were only a few points away from finishing as an Honorable Mention. Two of their losses came against the team finishing in fourth place. Iowa A had a strong showing by going through one of the top five toughest schedules at tournament and finished in 5th Place out of 44 teams. This team also had two award winners from two of the leaders in this group. Ellie Hoeper was no surprise as an Outstanding Witness given that she has been winning awards in all three years of her time in UIMT. In fact, her very first award in mock trial was as an Outstanding Witness at the Loras competition three years ago in her first season. Our President, Isabelle, Breitfelder was awarded as an Outstanding Attorney, showing how she is a leader both in and out of competition.
Fall Semester
All four of our teams competed this weekend, but we split them up between two tournaments. Both groups competing in the state of Illinois, Teams 1372 and 1375 (1373 on the tab summary) traveled to Illinois State University. Similar to last weekend at our home tournament, Team 1372 had the toughest schedule of the competition. Despite this tough road, our veteran team was able to achieve more success as they were two points away from earning third place. Their only other losses were to the first place team. Our other team that was filled with young and hard working competitors also saw some good success that brought them within a few points of being in the trophy discussion. One of the second year members leading this group, Thomas Finn, displayed his talents and was named Outstanding Witness for the second time this year in only his second tournament of the year. Thomas and the rest of 1375 will look to improve on their strong showing as they close out the fall semester.
This weekend UIMT took a break from traveling and hosted our own tournament in Iowa City with 14 of most elite teams in the midwest. Our A team had a tough time as they had to go through one of the toughest lineups of opponents at the tournament. Because of the exclusivity of our tournament, only the top three teams earned trophies. This caused our B team to just miss earning a trophy as they tied for the 4th best record. Each of our teams had an individual award winner to represent the Hawkeyes during the awards ceremony. To make our tournament more unique, we provided the individual award winners with camping mugs to commemorate this year's case involving Calkins Campground. Vice President, Christian Pint earned his Calkins Campground mug as an Outstanding Witness. Ellen Wandro especially put her talents on full display as she was named the Double Threat Award winner. This is an award given at the Cornshucker Challenge to the competitor who earns the most combined ranks while playing an attorney on one side of the case and a witness on the other side. Ellen is continuing an impression start to her senior year as she has now won an award at her first two tournaments of the year. This also marks three years in a row that an Iowa competitor has earned the Double Threat honor (Sophie Ortiz in 2018 and Megan Koch in 2017).
After sending almost our entire program to WashU last weekend, UIMT sent a team to Drake to get the rest of our competitors to their first tournament of the season. This young team had a great time in our state's capital while improving their mock trial skills. For three of the competitors, this was their first ever collegiate mock trial tournament. However, these three still had some experience from high school and certainly enjoyed testing themselves at the next level. The rest of this crew was made up of members in their second year in the program and showing they know how to get back into rhythm. This team went head to head against schools that are very close to us as well as some from a little further away. They faced our friendly neighbors of Drake and Cornell College, but were also able to compete against South Dakota and Wisconsin. This energetic group showed how they are set up to strong performances during the rest of the season.
In one of our favorite tournaments we attend every year, UIMT kicked off its season by competing at the Arch Invitational hosted by Washington University in St. Louis. We sent four teams of 26 total competitors down for their first official tournament of the year. Our competitors went head to head with many familiar foes from the Missouri and Illinois areas. UIMT went 11-7-2 against these schools that we will see often during the rest of the season. We were also able to get experience against schools from a little further away in Rhodes College in Memphis and the University of Tennessee. With WashU being the first tournament of the season, it provides a great opportunity to test out the new case and make our first strides in a long journey of improvement. Even with the focus being put on learning and improving, it still feels good to bring home some trophies. One of our teams of more experienced members battled one of the toughest schedules of the tournament and came away with a 4th Place finish to win our first trophy of the season. Additionally, we had SIX individual award winners, our most since WashU in 2012. Ellen Wandro and Serena Qamhieh showed a strong start to their senior seasons with their performances as the defendant to earn Outstanding Witness Awards. Ellie Hoeper showcased her talents as an attorney with her award while Danica Merrill and Thomas Finn showed their promise their second year in the program holds with their Attorney and Witness Awards respectively. UIMT had 9 new members competing in their first collegiate mock trial tournament and they showed off a lot of talent and future success. This was lead by Tess Paxson as she earned Outstanding Witness honors. While this was Tess' first collegiate tournament, she is certainly no stranger to the activity as she has a number of years of experience in mock trial from high school. We expect we'll see many more awards from our new competitors during the rest of the season.
