Quincy University‘s Mock Trial team traveled to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, for mock trial regionals, organized by the American Mock Trial Association, AMTA. The first day for regionals was bitter cold, and only got colder into the night as contestants started their first rounds in the evening. As the rounds went on through the days, the temperature got much warmer.

The regionals were held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with one round held the first day, two rounds held the second, and finally one round on the last day. Mock Trial teams compete in regionals to qualify for ORCS, Opening Round Championship Series. ORCS is the second round in the structure for the annual national tournament. ORCS host the top teams from the regionals, the top six teams from ORCS will then go on to compete in AMTA’s National Championship Tournament, which will be held in April.

For QU’s Mock Trial team, the rounds were tense. One of the “expert” witnesses forgot to mention the call logs, a crucial detail in their direct examination, which loosely connected the defendant to hired thieves. Daniel Schild, one of the prosecuting attorneys, was able to cross the defendant on the call logs and get them admitted into evidence.

“I had a good time participating and I was really proud of my team. One of our witnesses actually got an award for what she did, so I was very proud of her for her performance,” Jack Urbanciz, junior, said.

Brianna Heath won a character witness award for her part as Blaise Nova, a witness who rented a hotel room to one of the defendants. She provided a unique and charming interpretation to Nova with her upbeat personality on direct examinations, her consistently calm attitude on cross examination, and the clever use of her magic trick for her character.

Although QU’s Mock Trial team did not qualify for the ORCS, they came close, missing by two points.