In order to be eligible for any one of the three tiers of national competition, teams must compete in regional tournaments, which are held at seventeen locations throughout the spring. "Each region gets a certain number of bids," explained Grant Mandsager '04, one of three team captains. These bids are used to place individual teams into the national competition.
This year, four teams from the College participated in regional competition against 23 other teams from 11 other colleges and universities from the Northeast and Washington, D.C. at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Conn. The region was allotted three bids for nationals as well as four discretionary bids, according to Mandsager.
The top Amherst team qualified for the top-tier competition after receiving a discretionary bid. "We applied for a discretionary bid because of the way one round of competition was set up and wasn't scored right," said Mandsager. Without the mistake, the Amherst team would have placed higher than the third-place Dartmouth team.
This year, an attorney worked with the team as an advisor for the first time. "The attorney advisor has helped a lot," said Mandsager. "It has been helpful to hear the kind of experience and to have someone watch and give objective criticism."
"The mock trial team has been gaining strength over the past couple of years and interest has been growing. The larger numbers of people in the club allow for a more thorough analysis and understanding of material," said tri-captain Preston Scheiner '04.
Scheiner also gave credit to tri-captain Tim Danner '03. "Under Tim's leadership, the club has flourished," said Scheiner.
The team will compete against 63 other teams in Des Moines later this year.