Time Wasting on Cross

Just finished listening to the most recent Mock review, and one thing the hosts discussed (and that I have witnessed as well this year) is that there seems to be a lot more time wasting on cross examination coming from witnesses. My general impression is that there isn't really enough time for cross examination, and limiting the time for cross so much incentivizes witness to not only fight too much but also to lie more, as teams are less likely to impeach due to the time constraints and also the awkwardness of doing so over zoom. Have other people noticed this too? Does anyone have any ideas for how to solve it?

even in irl mock trials the answer to a runaway witness is to exercise witness control as best suits the situation. effective witness control discourages a witness from fighting too much. in the case that impeachment and time limits, this one is probably more up to a team's preferences. as one suggestion, you could consider accounting for potential impeachment time in the total cross time. to me, impeachment is awkward on zoom only when a team fails to find a clean way to execute the litany over zoom. with a good system and, of course, practice, it can definitely feel as clean as an irl impeachment