By ALFRED CHAPLEAU
Contributing Writer
The Saint Rose National Mock Trial team competed at the Yale University National Regional AMTA (American Mock Trial Association) Tournament on Feb. 20 and 21. 30 top universities and college teams from New England participated in the tournament.
During the competition, Saint Rose tried the case of State of Midlands v. Bancroft and Covington four separate times – twice each as prosecution and defense. Their tournament opponents were Yale University, UMASS Amherst, Amherst College and the University of New Hampshire.
The only loss was to host school and tournament champion Yale University (0-2). In the other three trials the team tied the University of New Hampshire (1-1) and convincingly defeated UMASS Amherst (2-0) and Amherst College (2-0).
The team’s 5-3 overall record qualified it for “Honorable Mention” in the tournament and a conditional bid to the Opening Round Championship Series Tournament (ORCS) to be held in Wilmington, Delaware on March 19 and 20. The conditional bid means that Saint Rose is eligible to participate at ORCS if two direct bid teams cannot, for any reason, participate.
The team’s 5-3 record placed them in the same competitive bracket as teams from Brown University, Wesleyan University, University of Vermont and Clark University and just below the bracket that includes Yale University, Williams College, University of Delaware and Tufts University.
During the invitational competition season, during the fall semester, Saint Rose finished fifth in both the UMASS Amherst and the University of Rochester Regional Invitationals. These invitational tournaments featured many of the teams that Saint Rose faced in the National Tournament and teams from as far away as the University of Texas and Miami of Ohio.
At these tournaments, team members won individual performance awards, Ashley Arcuri and Eamon Murphy as witnesses and Kyle Duclos as an attorney. In January, the team hosted the second annual MLK Scrimmage at the College. Teams from Williams College, University of Rochester and Siena participated and the tried their cases before sitting and retired judges and justices from the Albany area. The new UAlbany AMTA team also attended but did not compete.
This year marks the team’s best performance to date. In its four-year history the previous best regional competition score was 3-4-1, last year.
