Nov. 9, 2005
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| The Wittenberg Mock Trial Team |
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Not only did the Wittenberg Mock Trial Association host its first-ever two-round invitational mock trial tournament, it won first place. In addition, Eric Rey, class of 2006 from Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., won an individual outstanding attorney award and Adam Stone, class of 2005 from Bucyrus, Ohio, won an outstanding witness award.
Held Nov. 5 in the Clark County Municipal Courts Building and the Clark County Common Pleas Courthouse, the tournament brought together more than 120 students to serve as attorneys or witnesses from eight colleges and universities.
According to team coach Johnny Pryor, Wittenberg class of 1999, judging is based on 14 functions of the team, including opening statement, direct examination, cross examination, closing argument and witness performance on direct and cross examination. There are 140 points possible on one judge's ballot and two scoring judges per round. The team with the most number of points wins the individual scoring judge's ballot. In each round, a team can win up to two ballots, one from each of the two scoring judges.
Teams are judged on Combined Strength (CS) and Strength of Win/Strength of Loss (SOW/SOL). Wittenberg team 774, 4-0, CS=3 followed by the Bellarmine University team 852, 4-0, CS=1; The Ohio State University team 306, 3-1, CS=5; Centre College team 871 3-1, CS=3 SOW/SOL=4.5; and the Bellarmine University team 853, CS=3, SOW/SOL=5.0
The Wittenberg and Bellarmine teams both ended with a 4-0 record, but Wittenberg won the CS and SOW/SOL tiebreaker to determine the overall winner. Three teams had a 3-1 record, and the tab room officials had to use a series of tiebreaker formulas to determine 3rd, 4th and 5th place.
The team will compete in the 16th Annual Invitational Tournament at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Nov. 11-12, when two rounds of competition in a criminal kidnapping case will be held each day. The invitational tournaments provide teams an opportunity to practice in preparation for regional and national tournaments in the spring.
Miguel Martinez-Saenz, assistant professor of philosophy, and team coach Pryor will travel with the team to Tennessee, where 68 schools from around the country are registered to compete, making it the largest invitational tournament in the country.
- Phyllis Eberts
154-05
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