Mock Trial Makes School History at Regionals

Posted March 11, 2019

Last month, Georgia Tech’s Mock Trial team made history in the regional round of the American Mock Trial Association tournament: Three Tech teams notched bids to the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) for the first time in school history.

In Jackson, Mississippi, the A and B teams took home second and seventh, respectively, with the A team garnering eight wins and the B team collecting five and a half. Two members of the A and B teams were named Outstanding Witnesses, while three others were named Outstanding Attorneys. The C team also walked away with five and a half wins, finishing fifth at a different regional tournament in Orlando, Florida.

Since only two teams per school are allowed to compete in the ORCS, two of the three squads of Yellow Jackets will compete in the event in Decatur March 16–17.

Georgia Tech is the host school for the upcoming tournament, which occurs on the second weekend of ORCS competitions and will be held at the DeKalb County Courthouse. If either team does well enough for a bid this time, they will advance to Nationals, where they finished eighth last year.

Sarah Jane Lowentritt, a civil engineering major, is a member of Mock Trial’s C team. While her team won’t be competing in the ORCS, the significance of the regionals results was not lost on her.

“Getting 100 percent of our teams a bid at regionals shows how our program is getting stronger,” she said. She noted that five of the C team’s nine members are first-year students, which goes to show “how [the team is] improving in both recruiting new members and helping new members improve throughout the year.”

The Mock Trial team is continuing a trend of excellence that was documented by the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts back in November. See a full, interactive feature on Tech’s “Courtroom Stars.”

To see how the team does this weekend, follow the group on Facebook or Instagram.