The Bradley Mock Trial team will advance to the second round of the national tournament, the Opening Round Championship Series, after placing eighth at their regional tournament Feb. 22.
According to Mock Trial team coach Nicole Meyer, less than 200 of the 600 national teams advance to the next round from regionals, and Bradley’s team has not achieved this since ORCS was created about eight years ago.
Teams must win at least five of eight rounds at regionals in order to advance. Last year, six teams qualified, with Bradley’s team finishing in seventh place.
“We were so close,” captain Eileen Prescott said. “This year, people on our team have really been putting in a lot of work and have been wanting to improve.”
There are eight students on Bradley’s team and teammates meet for three hours each week during class time.
“In addition to class, we’ve been meeting for three to five hour blocks of time as often as we can,” Prescott, a senior philosophy and international studies double major, said. “It hasn’t been a matter of the captains and the coach needing to force people to practice. Everyone has been really enthusiastic.”
According to Prescott, the team learns fictional principles for court that are based on the United States’ Federal Rules of Evidence.
“When you go to law school, there is a class called evidence where all you learn is what we’ve already learned here,” Prescott said. “Not only is [mock trial] practice for us to be litigators, but it is also practice for an actual law school class.”
Prescott said the team will compete at ORCS in Anoka, Minnesota March 20-22 in the hopes of advancing to nationals.
“I’m just happy we have the opportunity to go,” Prescott said. “I would love to see us take first place, but you never know how well prepared the other teams are going to be. So, I always just say we will do our best.”
Overall, 48 teams will advance from ORCS to nationals.
