On the heels of their big win just last Sunday, the Trinity Mock Trial team is preparing for the next big step: the Opening Round Championship Series in Washington, D.C. Students will be traveling with our program coach, Timothy Dunn, Esq. to compete against other top-seeded schools during the first weekend of this year’s Spring Break. Going in to D.C., Trinity is among an elite group of schools; not only did they advance, but they advanced with the best record in program history. For the first time, Trinity has finished in the top two schools out of a Regional tournament.
Unlike other larger, more established programs, Trinity Mock Trial has always been small, but mighty. In 2017 the Mock Trial program will be coming up on its 10th Anniversary as an established student group at Trinity. It all started in 2007, when a student named Roland Grant brought a group of interested students together to compete locally. Grant was Trinity Mock Trial’s first president, and established the program within the school. While the program was still young, a freshman named Zach Green and his friend Michael Galligan joined, introducing the idea that perhaps Mock Trial could extend beyond local competition. In 2008, Green and Galligan registered the Trinity Mock Trial team with the American Mock Trial Association, and everything changed. The team was registered with a national organization, and we expected to compete at a national standard. An association with AMTA meant that Trinity was officially on the map as a competitor, and had access to the national case problem.
From there, Trinity Mock Trial began to travel farther and compete at a higher level. Green became the team’s next president, bringing the program to national recognition. By the end of his senior year, Green had made program history of his own, leading the team that placed 10th in the National Championship in 2011. To date, no team has made it as far as the 2011 Championship team. In the following years, presidents Leslie Ahlstrand, Andres Delgadillo, James Geisler, and now Youlan Xiu, are keeping with the tradition of excellence. Trinity Mock Trial has advanced past Regionals every year of competition. This year, as Trinity heads into ORCS with great expectations, we want to thank our predecessors, coaches and friends for their pursuit of excellence; we hope to make you proud.