Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Courtney Frye of Roaring Spring is the Team Captain
Members of Juniata College's Mock Trial team are (from left): Front row: Haley Walker, assistant coach, Altoona; India Thakar, Beaver Falls; Tessa Senel, Whitehouse Station, N.J.; Courtney Frye, captain, Roaring Spring; Fiona Skinner, Camp Hill; Kailyn Thompson, Windber; Olivia Drake, Hollidaysburg; and Brooke Rotheram, Harrisburg. Back row: Nattie Daversa; Altoona; Natalie Gibson, assistant coach, Annapolis, Md.; Meadow Walshaw-Wertz, Sunbury; Courtney Eller, Colver; Anne Hoover, Curwensville; Sam Craig, Mullica Hill, N.J.; Mitch Jellen, Telford; Matt Munoz, Worthington, Ohio; and David Andrews, head coach.
Juniata College's Mock Trial team recently wrapped up its second invitational season at the Blue Jay Invitational Tournament at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"This was the conclusion of a very successful invitational season," said the team's coach, Dave Andrews. "We have competed in tournaments against some of the toughest opponents in the country this season."
Juniata took on top-notch teams from the east coast, including University of North Carolina, Penn State University, Stevenson University and Johns Hopkins University.
Meadow Walshaw-Wertz, a junior at Juniata, achieved one of the top-ranked scores in the tournament. Sophomore Mitch Jellen achieved one of the top-ranked witness scores at the tournament.
At the beginning of the season, each team receives a binder of discovery for the case they will try during their competitions. This season's case was a question of homicide or manslaughter in a scenario in which a mother/daughter hike took a tragic turn when the daughter died from a fall off of a cliff.
In competition, each team tries the case four times, twice as prosecution and twice as defense. All of the teams are given the same information and witnesses must stick to the affidavit provided, but the ways different teams interpret the information highlight and challenge each member's ability to adapt, problem solve, and think on their feet.
Throughout the invitational season, Juniata's mock trial team has competed in tournaments at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., Penn State University, the University of California at Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
In the team's inaugural season last year, Juniata prevailed to the top 10 in the opening round of the Nationals Championship in Islip, N.Y. Being a nationally-ranked team not only earned the team prestige in the field of play, it provided for invitations to top tournaments in their second year.
"Now, we are getting ready for national play," Andrews said. "Regional tournaments begin Feb. 8."
The first of the regional tournaments will take place Saturday, Feb. 8, and Sunday, Feb. 9, at Penn State University with 24 teams competing.
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