The Pomona College Mock Trial (PCMT) team
is going national for the first time in its seven-year history after beating
out 24 teams last weekend at the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) in Newport
Beach, Calif.
The
team has qualified for ORCS for the last four years, but it will now advance to
the National Championship Tournament this April in Orlando, Fla.
“I think what put us over the top at ORCS was our content,” Adam Revello PO ’17 wrote in a message to TSL. “Between now and nationals we’re going to work on polishing our performances so our presentation is just as good as our content.”
In the weekend’s most important round, the team tied with University of
California, Irvine, the top-ranked mock trial team in the United States.
“The
most outstanding performances from this weekend were definitely in our round
against Irvine,” PCMT President Melissa Fedornak PO ’14 said. “Every person who performed in that round did excellently, and I
was really proud of our whole team.”
The
trip to nationals is just one of PCMT’s many noteworthy feats this year. At the University of California, Los Angeles Sunset Strip Invitational Competition in January, the team placed third. The group qualified
for ORCS by placing first at the regional tournament in February.
Tournament
Coordinator Christopher Helwig PO ’14 said that although the team has never attended
nationals, it is well-prepared to face the best teams in the country.
“My
minimum goal is a winning record,” Helwig said. “That will put us in the top 30 teams in the
country next year in all the rankings, and that’s pretty substantial.”
The team that won at ORCS consisted of Fedornak, Helwig, Revello, Kelsey Schuetz PO ’14, Abigail Liles PO ’15,
Kenneth Moran PO ’15, Gabriel Bronshteyn PO ’16, Audrey Glaser PO ’16, and Kirsten Peterson PO ’16. The rosters for nationals have not yet been finalized, according to Fedornak.