2023 ORCS Analysis

Please share your own thoughts below. This is intended to start a discussion, if you have seen a team and you think we are over or under valuing them let us know! Good luck with ORCS! If you aren't on here, then prove us wrong! If you made our list, then prove us right! - MockAnalysisIsMyDrug


By The Numbers:
We begin by breaking down these fields by a couple of statistical categories. As usual, we’ve given you the average TPR points and the average rank of the teams in each ORCS. This should give a sense of what the average difficulty of any round might be. We’ve also taken a look at the top 6 teams in each ORCS to see what the difficulty of the top rounds will look like and how much strength will have to be displaced in order for teams to get bids. In addition, we have looked at the average ballots each team won at Regionals this year.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iU3ZVLwcTvnVeHBTO9DGfbfhMuttA1Z5bFXZJWPW278/edit?usp=sharing

We want to start by saying that no ORCS is easy. ORCS are hard. Everyone who gets a bid should be immensely proud of that bid—wherever it comes from. All of what we are about to say has to do with the relative strength of each ORCS.

Our official ORCS ranking is as follows:
Cincinnati
St. Paul
Santa Monica
Greenville
New Rochelle
Geneva
Arlington
Washington DC

But things are never that simple at ORCS. One thing to think about at ORCS is also that you will only have to play one team in each group. So it matters where the power is, not just how much there is. A super hard top of the field is frightening because it means you will almost certainly have to play one really hard round where you could drop both ballots. But unlike in the Regionals system, you don’t have to play everyone in that top sector. An ORCS that has power more spread out might give more of a chance to slip through on an easy schedule, but it also runs more of a risk of having to play multiple difficult teams at the same tournament (one in each bracket).

One thing to flag here, for instance, is that our “hardest” ORCS, Cincinnati, isn't getting most of its unusual strength from its A bracket (which is pretty middle of the pack). Instead, it’s getting most of its power from unusually hard C and D brackets. This is good news for the top of the field, because most of them aren’t worried about difficulty variations in the lower brackets and are mostly worried about how bad their second day will be. But it also means that for those on the cusp of bidding, they should not expect to have a full pain free day the way one might at many ORCS. St. Paul, on the other hand, looks a lot like the Norman Regional that we wrote about in our last By The Numbers post. AMTA imported a ton of power by flying in top teams. So the A bracket is scary. But after that, St. Paul shows significantly more of a drop off than other ORCS.

Finally, we want to note that AMTA has set things up this year so we are guaranteed to have at least three teams in the heartbreaker position of missing a bid to Nationals after having made it last year. Cincinnati, Santa Monica, and Geneva each have seven teams who competed in Lancaster last year, meaning that not all of their Nationals returners can get bids. However, at least five teams (two each from New Rochelle and Washington DC and one from Arlington) will be gaining bids they did not earn last year.


Arlington: ‘Dolly Parton’ (MAIMD Ranking 7/8 ORCS)
-3 teams in top 25, 6 teams in top 50, 12 teams in top 100
-5 NCT Returners

First In:
Tufts A
Rhodes A
Emory A

Bubble:
South Carolina A
Texas A
Alabama A
Rhodes B
Dillard A
Arkansas A

Initial Thoughts:
This year’s NCT is in Memphis. So the ORCS traditionally held in Memphis have been shifted a little to the south and a little to the west: where the stars at night are big and bright. And the stars are indeed bright in Arlington this year. The A bracket is absolutely stacked—there is perhaps no ORCS in the country this year with a higher concentration of star power. We’ll give you the five biggest stars to keep your eye on in Arlington. Star #1: Veda Krumpe. Her loud, bulldozing style is straight from her team’s playbook these past few years. While Rhodes A doesn’t need a bid here—as NCT host, they are guaranteed to advance to Nationals—they’ll probably get one. Star #2: Fatima Lawan. One of AMTA’s best double threats for years now, Lawan was our pick for best witness in the country at the start of the year and has been racking up awards. This Tufts team has one of the very best ORCS track records in the country over the last 5 years. Last year, AMTA sent them to Illinois, and they won their ORCS. The regional adjustment should pose no issue for the Jumbos. Star #3: Danielle Jacoby. One of AMTA’s perennially underrated superstars, Jacoby and her All-American are finally out of Riya Lakkaraju’s long shadow (it’s four All-American awards long). Emory has had tons of success this season, most notably their 2nd place finish at GCF. Their staid style is a departure from the more exciting Emory teams of yore, but we think it’ll be the perfect in Arlington. Star #4: Josianne Alwardi. An All-American last year, Alwardi has continued awarding this year. Texas A is a team very much on the rise, and we expect them to do quite well here. Star #5: Take your pick from the Gamecocks. After all, they’re all among our Pre-Regionals top performers. Whether you want Ben Wallace the Younger and his signature goofy grin (perhaps he smiles because he is the most awarded man in AMTA), All-National competitor James Bray, or the new star witness Naomi Uchida, South Carolina lacks not for talent. This year the Gamecocks will be looking to write a new ending for themselves compared to last March, and despite missing out on our First In category, they have as good a chance to bid as any team here.

If you start to look past our stars, Arlington seems rather dim. Alabama A is always almost good enough, but hasn’t gotten over the line these past few seasons. Florida State A is a phantom, a distant echo of its former self: no Branham, no bid. Rhodes B and Emory B are historically strong squads, but they haven’t been as stalwart as usual this season. Dillard is making a repeat appearance at ORCS off of an open bid after a Cinderella run to NCT last year, and while they have the pieces in place to take another swing at it, they are not as strong on paper as last year. Baylor has been wracked by drama yet again—their B team earned this bid to ORCS and it’s anyone’s guess who will show up in Arlington. Possible bids from Arkansas or Oklahoma are both intriguing propositions to consider: the former has been slowly building strength for years now, and Julianna Kantner and her Razorbacks will be ready for a long shot bid; the latter proved at Regionals that they can go toe-to-toe with anyone in Arlington by splitting Rhodes A and Tufts A. UT Dallas has talent in spades, but they don’t stack—so who knows how strong this team will be relative to the other UT Dallas team in Santa Monica. And Auburn and Texas A&M are longshots—but it wouldn’t be impossible. Texas A&M has done it before and they can do it again. So what will happen in top-heavy Arlington? Who knows. But we’re certain of one thing: deep in the heart of Texas, Rhodes won’t be feeling the pressure!

Team to Watch: Texas A&M
Typically, we get to write about a very scary A bracket, and teams get to expect that a portion of their schedule will be easy. That’s not necessarily the case for whoever has to play a certain team in the D bracket to which we here at MAIMD are paying close attention: the Aggies of Texas A&M. Why, you ask? Because a team that’s peaking is just as dangerous as an all-time great. Let us explain. The Aggies started out their season with a couple of rough invitational results. Their highest win total coming into Regionals was only 4.5 ballots. As a result, quite frankly, we weren’t expecting them to make it out of Regionals. Fortunately for the Aggies, they had other plans. Texas A&M absolutely stomped their way through Waco Regionals with a plethora of awards to show for it. All-Regional witness Evelyn Chew and attorney anchors Gracen Farmer and Srikar Satish all showed up in a big way. Here’s the scary part: all of these competitors have been awarding individually at the tournaments where they consistently found themselves in the middle of the pack. If this team has figured out a way to all perform at a high level at the same time, then that 8-0 regionals record could indicate that TPR doesn’t tell the full story for this Aggies team. And let’s be clear, that was not a soft 8-0. The Aggies swept Alabama B and Baylor A, ending the season for two perennial ORCS-attendees. In mock trial, it's so easy to talk about the perennial powerhouse, the historical household names, or the shining stars who we expect to take home awards after every tournament. But in the Aggies, we see a true underdog who could really make some noise come ORCS weekend. In 2019, Texas A&M made a completely unexpected run to NCT, where they ended as runaway SPAMTA winners. Now, on the verge of another Cinderella March Madness run to the top, the Aggies will be looking to Gig ‘Em in Texas, so they can say Howdy in Tennessee.


Cincinnati: ‘Not So Mid-West’ (MAIMD Ranking 1/8 ORCS)
-2 teams in top 25, 5 teams in top 50, 12 teams in top 100
-7 NCT Returners

First In:
Patrick Henry A
Yale A

Bubble:
Northwood A
Ohio State A
Cincinnati A
Case Western A
Juniata A
Michigan State A
Indiana A
Dartmouth A
Michigan B

Initial Thoughts:
Here at MAIMD, we have a bit of a track record when it comes to tournaments located in the center of the country. We whine about difficult West Coast invites, declare Boston the “mock trial capital,” and then we go and write titles like “Putting the ‘Mid’ in Midwest.” So you might be confused by the sudden about-face. But it’s true: at Cincinnati, this year’s hardest ORCS and certainly the hardest one to spell, almost nobody is safe. Let’s start with the first-ins. If we told you one of mock trial’s brightest and best minds was named Elizabeth, you probably wouldn’t think of PHC A coach Elizabeth Ertle, which rhymes with turtle, but we’re telling you now it should be at least second on your mind. Between this team’s brain trust and competitors like Caleb Knox, Trinity Klomparens, and Allyn Sims, we’re looking at a team with the best technical skills in the field and some really incredible witnessing talent. And then there’s the other team with an Elizabethan legacy. On paper, Yale is one of the very best in the country—they’re returning all but two members of their eight-ballot roster from Lancaster. Our only remotely reasonable doubt is that they’re not in Buffalo anymore: they’re squarely in the Midwest. How will their smarter-than-you, fighty style play with this judging pool? Almost up with Yale, but perhaps a notch down, are Northwood and OSU. Northwood always struggles mightily at invites, but for four years, DeLois Leaphart has trained her kids into shape and gotten them through to NCT. It’s a hell of a track record, but a team that historically overperforms at ORCS always runs the risk of going back to just… uh… regular-performing at ORCS. If the other team at the tippy-top of our bubble, Ohio State, has shown us anything this season, it’s that they’ve got that dawg in them (too soon, Buckeye football fans?). Expect the Buckeyes to roll into Cincinnati with as much bark as they’ve got bite—led into the fray by Mike Ragnone, a rottweiler of a frontman, and Tamara Joseph, a shih tzu of a character witness. Still, it’s not all sunshine and roses for the Buckeyes. With a 5.5 record last year in DeKalb, and many of the teams that took ballots from them returning to Cincinnati this year, they’ll have to work hard to secure a Nationals bid.

But even if you avoid a disaster A bracket matchup with any of those teams, you still have to deal with teams the next notch down. After two years without a bid, Cincinnati A went back to Nationals in 2022, and they’ll be looking to follow it up with another. Case Western is always in the mix, and this year they’re headlined by seniors Zoe Swenson, Enya Eettickal, and Prateek Dullur. Juniata was in Lancaster 11 months ago—and even though they seem to have ceded the title of least liked team on Confessions to Rhodes, they may not have ceded any of their ballot-winning capabilities with Dan Cummins still on bench. Michigan State is a program we’ve got our eye on—they went to Nationals last year, skyrocketed a whopping 53 ranks in TPR, and the last two times they’ve rolled up to Cincinnati for ORCS, they’ve rolled out with a bid. Indiana A has struggled at ORCS the last couple of years, but a split with Michigan A this season is an encouraging sign for them. Speaking of Michigan, you’ll notice their B team at the bottom of the bubble, which doesn’t take a lot of detective work to understand: the last time Michigan went to the NCT the bid came from their B team. Right above them is Dartmouth, who went 5-3 at DeKalb last year and are once again in the Midwest for another bite at the apple. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to acknowledge a few serious dangers in the C and D brackets. Dartmouth B also managed a 5-3 record last year, Tennessee wasn’t at ORCS at all last year but seems to be having a better season now, and Rider A is flying in from the East Coast after sweeping Tufts B and splitting Maryland A at regionals—that’s 3-1 against two A bracket teams. Add to that OSU’s B team, and if you get lazy in these rounds, you’ll find yourself with a split or a tie you just can’t afford. Let’s see who makes it out, and who Cincinnati will gobble up, “no crumbs.”

Team to Watch: Dartmouth A
Unsurprisingly, the Ivy Leagues turn out for mock. Even universities like Princeton—who don’t normally come up in conversations about NCT threats much anymore—were very much real contenders for the title in the past decade. But unlike Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Brown, Penn, and Princeton, Dartmouth A has no real track record in AMTA. They stand out from a group of Mock Trial super-squads, with a fairly ho-hum history—until a few years ago, when something changed behind the scenes at the Big Green and the program decided to start accepting their bids to ORCS for the first time since 2013. All of a sudden, Dartmouth is a real threat at ORCS. Almost more so than some of their more historically decorated counterparts, like Cornell and Princeton. Last year, after a 7-4-1 finish at online ORCS in 2021 (Dartmouth’s first result showing some teeth at a major competition in anyone’s memory), AMTA decided to send this fledgling power out of their element—from the small town of Hanover, New Hampshire to the slightly larger town of DeKalb, Illinois. And they put on a show. Dartmouth A and B both earned 5 ballots in DeKalb, and their records had them pulling ballots off of regular NCT hopefuls and NCT powerhouses like Hillsdale, Ohio State, and Case Western. But 5-3 wasn’t good enough for Dartmouth in the fields of Illinois. Luckily for them, this year, AMTA has decided to send them far away once more, to the big city of Cincinnati. And so once again, it’s the mockers of middle America, not the East Coast erudites, who are going to have to worry about the Big Green starting to take mock seriously. They’re off and running again this year. Led by the excellently named Fiona Slay, Dartmouth slayed (slew?) the field at Regionals, avoiding a pummeled from Harvard A, who they only lost to by a few points here and there (-2, -3), and then absolutely annihilating Roger Williams, Middlebury, and Bryant. Despite their success, they have yet to prove themselves against top competition this year. As far as we can tell, Dartmouth’s decision to integrate into top-level mock hasn’t really come with a change in their fall or spring schedules. They only attended UMass Amherst’s invitational this spring—in fairness, taking home 1st and 4th place—but they’ve got no real track record against top programs. That might prove to be a problem. They’ll barely have one round against an opponent the caliber of the three schools they swept at Regionals, let alone multiple. So if Dartmouth is finally going to do it, they’re going to have to step up.


Geneva: ‘There are more Ls in Geneva than in DeKalb’ (MAIMD Ranking 6/8 ORCS)
-3 teams in top 25, 8 teams in top 50, 12 teams in top 100
-7 NCT Returners

First In:
Miami A

Bubble:
Northwestern A
Michigan A
Hillsdale A
WashU A
Notre Dame A
Wheaton A
Vanderbilt A
Illinois A
WashU B

Initial Thoughts:
We’re gonna come right out the gate and say it: the Geneva ORCS this year might violate the Geneva convention—for cruel and unusual punishment to all the teams here. Now, as an observant and thorough MAIMD reader, I know what you’re thinking: “Haven’t you ranked this as the 6th hardest ORCS? Surely it can’t be that bad.” Well my friend, the problem is that this ORCS is going to be chaotic. Even if it isn’t statistically that strong, chaos and unpredictability can create a mess. One look at the teams in Geneva tells you that anything can happen this weekend. But why? Well, first there’s the fact that they are reportedly way behind on judge recruitment for this ORCS, so expect some coach judging and all the fun that brings. But the weirdness extends to a lot of teams. We’ll start by looking at that team to which we bestowed First In honors: Miami A. At this point, we’re starting to sound as repetitive as UVA’s scripted rhetoric with how many times we’ve told you that Miami A isn’t what they used to be (we hit two low-hanging fruits with one stone there). And given the relatively little noise they’ve made on the invite circuit this year, we have some worries about the Redhawks. But if there’s one thing that Neal Schuett and gang know how to do, it's get their bid at ORCS. They reminded us of that with their perfect record in Evanston at Regionals. As the team with the longest running streak of bids to the NCT, we expect to see them in Memphis. At the top of our bubble, we’ve got the Wildcats from Northwestern. You might be shocked to see them down here because of their history. At the end of the year, they’re almost always sitting right there at the bottom of the top 10 on the Nationals tab summary. And this year they’ve got all the talent to make it back there, with competitors like Will Hopkins, Abigail Roman-Ahlgrim, and Princeton Review raffle winner Tahj Burnett. But we’re wondering if some of the polish we’re accustomed to seeing from this top tier Midwest team has left the Wildcats with their coaching staff. After breaking their streak of winning Beach Party, they might be poised to break another streak by missing NCT. But if anyone’s looking to break a streak this year, it’s Michigan A. It’s the same story every year: Michigan dominates the invite season with huge wins over the some of the top teams in the country, like they did this year at BTP and CUBAIT, they make it out of Regionals relatively unscathed, but then when it really matters at ORCS—they fall on their faces. It’s been 5 years in a row that Michigan A has failed to earn their bid to nationals, sometimes relying on their B team to do the job for them and sometimes losing out on April mock trial altogether. They’ll be looking to flip that M to a W this weekend. Speaking of B teams who do the heavy lifting, WashU’s in Geneva too! With top 10 finishes at last year’s NCT and this year’s GCF, there are lot of expectations that these nepo babies might fill some big shoes. But after B went 8-0 and A just squeaked out of Regionals by the skin of their teeth, we might be seeing a repeat of what happened in Cedar Rapids last year that’ll have us saying, “For Sale: Big Shoes, Never Worn.”

In the rest of the A bracket, we’ve got Hillsdale A and their absolutely terrifying bench, with Abigail Davis and FPOTHSC (Future President of the Hillsdale Senior Class) Caleb Sampson. Superstar Melissa McCollum also looks to make her name as one of the best in the country as she hopes to lead Wheaton A back to NCT, but she’ll have a hard time doing that if their hometown Regional is anything to go by. And that’s because lurking in the B bracket is a team you’ll want to buy some stock in, Notre Dame A—who took 1.5 ballots in a round 3 against Wheaton just a few short weeks ago. With All-American witness chameleon Isabella Leak and ferocious blond Max Thompson, this team looking to make it back to the NCT is no laughingstock. But Notre Dame isn’t the only team who was in Lancaster last year sitting in Geneva’s B bracket. Washington & Lee A and Hamilton A are here too! That’s right, half of the B bracket is made up of 2022 NCT teams, meaning half of the teams in Geneva will have to hit two top 50 teams. And that’s not to forget the rest of that bracket is filled out by Illinois A, Vanderbilt A, and Northwestern B—all of whom are on the cusp of taking one of those six bids to Memphis. Keep your eyes especially on Vanderbilt, who after an undefeated record at Regionals may be looking to repeat their 2015 run of going undefeated through both Regionals and ORCS. Looking at the rest of the field, there are some imported East Coast open bid soldiers and some Midwestern B team firepower who can take a ballot off of any unsuspecting team. No matter which way you slice it, every team in Geneva has been thrust into the warzone, and there’s no option of neutrality here. It’s bid or die.

Team to Watch: Illinois A
One of the most heartbreaking ways to end a season has to be missing out on a bid by CS—you did the work, you won the ballots, but the result was out of your hands. It’s an ending that leaves a sour taste in the mouth of any team that experiences it—and for the good people of Illinois A, the memory of the 2022 Cincinnati ORCS is undoubtedly still fresh. A couple notes: First, this team is slightly different than the previous iteration; there are a lot of competitors on tab summaries. Whether it’s Brooke Conklin, Emma Troy, or the deadly duo of All-Regional Attorneys “Poison” Ivy Ramirez and Chris “We Couldn’t Think of a Superhero Pun for This One” Yang, there’s a lot of new flash to Illinois A. Second, when we say “good people,” we mean it—Illinois has some of the kindest, most generous competitors on the circuit. You will never leave a round against either of their teams without a lengthy exchange of compliments and a possible discussion of future collaborative work together. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of being in a round with them, you know exactly what we’re talking about: it’s difficult not to root for Illinois. And, in fact, it’s quite easy, especially considering their impressive invitational results this season. From a 5-3 finish at Mock at the Rock, the Illini traveled to New Haven, where they took home second place at the Yale Invitational. Things got rocky in January, though—both Illinois A and B competed at Beach Party, and their teams combined to take 7 of a possible 16 ballots. Not exactly an incredible showing. They got back on track in Springfield, with both teams going 7-1. Now, they march into Geneva looking to take every ballot in sight and win the bid that they were so close to earning last year. The question is just whether or not they’re ready: they had a CS of 13.5 in Springfield, but there will be no hiding from the bid contenders in the Kane County Judicial Center come this weekend. To be the best, Illinois A will have to beat the best of the Midwest (hey, that rhymes!). We think that they can, that they will, and that soon, their sportsmanship will carry them to Memphis.


Greenville: ‘Sugar, Spice, and Potential for Surprise’ (MAIMD Ranking 4/8 ORCS)
-4 teams in top 25, 7 teams in top 50, 12 teams in top 100
-6 NCT Returners

First In:
Florida A

Bubble:
Georgia A
Georgia Tech B
Georgia Tech A
Duke A
Furman A
Georgetown A
Florida B
South Carolina B
Tennessee Chattanooga A
Georgia B
Georgia State A
Duke B
North Carolina A
Furman B

Initial Thoughts:
Of all the ORCS fields, Greenville stands out as lacking the one top dog team that we see at every other site. There’s not that every-year, creepingly-inevitable team like a Yale, or a Chicago, or a Virginia, or a Harvard, or a Miami, or a UCLA, or a non-Zoom Rhodes. And yet, despite the lack of that looming monster at the top of the field, we see Greenville as posing one of the most challenging paths for any team with dreams of Walking in Memphis. Why?  Because looking even beyond our Bubble, we see fifteen—yes, fifteen—different teams that wouldn’t shock us with a bid. The closest thing to a blue blood in Greenville are the LitiGators of Florida A. Led by returning All-American attorney Mia Venezia, we expect the Gators’ signature flashy demos and entertaining characters to buoy them to a bid. Behind them, we expect to see UGA A. There have been a few trophies won down in Athens as of late, and the dynamic attorney duo of Justin Xu and Bryan Walker will be looking to add to that collection. Last year, the bulldogs surged to the podium in Pennsylvania. This year, they will be looking to break a streaky history of placing at Nationals and then immediately failing to return. Then we have the transplants: Georgetown A. Last year, the Hoyas pulled off a big surprise, powering a rare two teams into Nationals. Their results at Nationals, however, left a lot to be desired. It’s been a quiet year for this group: they’ve had only four individual awards across their entire program.  And what little results we see this season are underwhelming. Whether their buttoned-up style will hit down South is one of the biggest mysteries of Greenville. The Yellowjackets of Georgia Tech, well you’ll hear about them soon enough.  But first, there are two curious teams at this site which appear to be headed in opposite directions.  Heading in the right direction, we have Furman. Led by All American Marra Edwards, who exploded onto the scene late last season, Furman represents a bygone blue blood who have steadily orchestrated a return to power. If their attacking style will work anywhere, it will be on their home turf in Greenville. Heading in a more questionable direction is Duke A. Duke has talent, there’s no question on that front. Kaleb Amare, Jacob Hervey, Nellie Sun, Evan Chan.  These are competitors we’ve seen step into big rounds and walk away with critical ballots. And yet, this year has seen Duke A with disappointing results at GAMTI, GCF, and then again at Regionals with un-characteristic splits against Georgia State and South Carolina B. There’s certainly cause for concern as to whether the Blue Devils can keep up the monstrous momentum they built over Zoom.

Finally, we’d be remiss to skip over some of our underdogs. We did promise you fifteen teams after all. So make sure you keep an eye out on teams like South Carolina B, with newfound standout witness Brandon Badinski, along with a strong squad from Georgia State, led by the heavily awarded Eric Gulbranson.  Tennessee-Chattanooga sports a young group this year after a wave of graduations, but we expect their strong coaching to keep them in the mix heading into day two. And of course we can never count the B teams from some of the deepest programs in the country.  Florida B, Georgia B, and Duke B are always stocked with young talent, and each have appeared at the Big Dance in recent memory.  And Furman B, while they haven’t notched a second bid in many years, were just a 1 point ballot away from heading to Amish country last April.  Finally, we have to shout out our biggest dark horse to watch, North Carolina A. The Tar Heels, like the Tennessee-Chattanooga team they split at Regionals, are not strangers to the big stage. Their 7-1, 4-award sprint through Spartanburg gives us hope that maybe things are turning around in Chapel Hill. At base, this ORCS has six strong NCT-returning A teams that look to be the favorites for the six trophies that will be handed out. But none of those six are indomitable. At least one, and in all likelihood two, will fall. And the fifteen-team opportunity that springs from that void? Well, that’s what fascinates us most in Greenville.

Team to Watch: Georgia Tech B
[Removed upon request of Georgia Tech]


New Rochelle: ‘Crimsons and Devils and Terrapins, Oh My!’ (MAIMD Ranking 5/8 ORCS)
-4 teams in top 25, 5 teams in top 50, 10 teams in top 100
-4 NCT Returners

First In:
Harvard A

Bubble:
Dickinson A
Maryland A
NYU A
Yale B
Tufts B
Wellesley A
Brown A
Wesleyan A
Harvard B

Initial Thoughts:
The gang’s all here—in picturesque New Rochelle, for the annual battle royale to decide who represents the Northeast at Nationals. What makes this field tricky are its devastatingly difficult B, C, and D brackets. Let’s begin at the bottom: UMass Lowell and Harvard B are the threats in the D bracket. Both teams put up excellent showings in Providence: the former is always a tough out at ORCS and Sean Reagan is a very good attorney; the latter is the best team in the country’s B team. But it’s the C group where people’s brackets are going to get busted. Maryland B won Providence Regionals. Princeton A isn’t a world beater, but they were in a final round this century. UMass Amherst A is finally attending ORCS in person and are somehow ridiculously underrated every single year. Wellesley is arguably the most likely candidate to bid from the C bracket: Max Handler has descended upon Wellesley from his perch in St. Louis and coached them to an undefeated finish at Regionals. Keep an eye out for Wellesley’s Mira Kumar. Things start looking even worse for New Rochelle attendees when you start to examine the B bracket. MIT A is also sneakily underrated year in and year out—last year, they swept Harvard A at Regionals—and they’re probably a better team this year. Brown A is on the rise, too—Michael Chandler is a bona fide TBC hopeful and Brown has to want a bid badly after nearly a decade of failure at ORCS. And then there’s NYU—who were inches away from reclaiming their former glory with an NCT bid last year. There was a time not too long ago when NYU was considered the most fearsome team in the nation. Perhaps that time shall come again. Denida Rahmani and her pile of awards certainly hope so.

And, finally, the A bracket: at the top is Harvard. Maybe you’ve heard of them. They are a small, underfunded university in Cambridge, Massachusetts that won Nationals last year. Apparently, they have people who are good at mock trial, like Travis Harper, who apparently has a bunch of All-American awards. Next up is the mighty Dickinson: a mock trial power on the rise located in Pennsylvania whose mock trial team is headlined by the infamous Lucas Economou. Through his grace, Dickinson stormed to a placement at Nationals last April, and they’ll be looking to prove that they aren’t a one-hit wonder. Spoiler alert: they are not a one-hit wonder. Maryland A is probably the best of the bunch after Harvard and Dickinson—see our Team to Watch for our reasoning there. Tufts B broke through to NCT last year after several near-misses and snagged a spot on the podium as well, but they completely flopped at Regionals this year. Tufts C and D both earned bids, so we don’t know what this team will look like. In any case, we have enough faith in the Jumbos’ insane depth to keep Tufts B squarely on the bubble. Yale B is another NCT returner—they did well at Regionals and have a couple of top performers, so we’d be unsurprised to see them emerge from this scrum with a bid. And Wesleyan A is hanging on by a thread, desperately hoping they can claw their way back after what has been quite the fall from grace—no bid to NCT in 2022, and no bid for their A team at Regionals in 2023. Like with Tufts B, we don’t know who will be on Wesleyan A’s roster in New Rochelle (their B team earned the bid). Their program pedigree keeps them in the bubble here, but keep in mind that the last time Wesleyan A earned a direct bid to NCT, people weren’t wearing masks yet.

Team to Watch: Maryland A
It is easy to forget that the University of Maryland, College Park is the best school in the history of the American Mock Trial Association. No doubt about it. They have won Nationals 5 times, which is more than anyone else. The reason that it’s easy to forget is that, honestly, they’ve been pretty mediocre in recent years. This story is almost too easy to write: one of mock trial’s sleeping giants is awakened by some California sunshine as coaches Liz Grant and Azam Janmohamed arrive to reverse a floundering team’s fortunes and turn them into a real national threat. But that story wouldn’t be quite true. This is a team that has been building to success for some time. Slowly, quietly, methodically, the University of Maryland, College Park has bided its time, developed its talent, arrived at NCT in 2021 (it’s easy to forget that, too), licked its wounds when it failed to repeat that success in 2022, and attacked the Northeast mock trial circuit this year with a vengeance. Yes, absolutely, it helps to have two All-Americans fly in from Stanford to do some coaching. But it’s only a small piece of a very impressive, multi-year puzzle, put together to perfection by the brain trust over at UMD. Their top talent is on par with any team’s: Laniya Davidson is hands down one of the most exciting attorneys in the country to watch, Amber Wang is a circuit stalwart who is stringing together a blistering campaign—she won two awards at Regionals, and Stephen DeCoste is a card-carrying member of a club whose membership grows thinner and thinner each year: over-the-top character witnesses who are actually very good. The group has the results this year to back it up: at CUBAIT this year, they took ballots from Tufts A and Virginia A, and they won Hilltop this year in dominant fashion. Two years ago, a team from Maryland, Baltimore County took the mock trial world by storm and wrote its own Cinderella story. We’re not sure this team is quite there yet. But UMBC better circle the wagons, because the tables are turning in Maryland. The Terrapins of College Park are waking up. They’re on their way. And as they thunder (as giant turtles are wont to do) past his home in Baltimore on their way to New Rochelle, you better believe Ben Garmoe can hear them coming.


Santa Monica: ‘The Sunshine Slaughterhouse’ (MAIMD Ranking3/8 ORCS)
-4 teams in top 25, 6 teams in top 50, 12 teams in top 100
-7 NCT Returners

First In:
UCLA A
UC Berkeley A

Bubble:
Stanford A
UC Irvine A
UCLA B
UC Santa Barbara A
USC A
ASU A
Berkeley B
Cal Poly SLO A

Initial Thoughts:
West Coast Mock Trial lives on this weird isolated island. You see the same teams every invite, the same teams make the podium, and, without fail, the same teams dominate the AMTA season. What makes this proverbial island so scary is that come ORCS, you have a bajillion scary programs and nowhere to send them but Santa Monica. Southern California has about 6 or 7 scary programs, Arizona makes themselves known every tournament, and (much to the chagrin of every NCT hopeful team here) Berkeley missed their usual trip to the Midwest for ORCS. Santa Monica is our third most dangerous ORCS for a reason: you’ve got an entire coast of Mock Trial talent all locked in the same courtrooms. So who is walking away with bloody knuckles and a bid? Let’s start with our A bracket. At the top is UCLA A who, even in the face of a stacked pool, will likely walk away with a secure bid. Ria Debnath got 20 ranks at regionals and was the top-ranked attorney at this little tournament in the fall called GAMTI. She’s backed by one of the most fearsome witness lineups in the country: GCFI award winner Emma Rose Maloney and All-Regional witnesses Adithi Rao, Jad Soucar, and Sulaymaan Ali. Our other first-in team, the Sosa Squad of Cal Berkeley A, proved the strength of the West Coast by winning the most prestigious invite of the winter: GCFI. When you have Ying and Sosa anchoring your bench, and Holtzapple and Kamalnathan anchoring your witness lineup, chances are you can pencil a flight down to Memphis for your schedule this April. While we wish we could tell our friends in the West that the A bracket threats end there, that’d make us, in the immortal words of Ethan Hsi, lying liars who lie. The Gauchos of UCSB A came out of the bloodbath that was Fresno Regionals with an 8-0 record, proving Madison Thomas and Aleyna Young can keep the magic (and the girl power) of last year’s Nats run alive. Irvine was runner-up at Beach Party and star performers Anthony Antonyan, Josiah Jones, and Jack Ryan (who saves the world from terrorists, according to the Tempe AMTA rep) have raked in the hardware this season. Stanford A survived the Fresno onslaught and placed third at Ramblin’ Wreck against stiff competition, and anyone who wants to get in their way back to NCT will have top performer Merideth Fenyo to contend with. Even USC A, who has been absent from top invites, went 7-1 at regionals with an absolute monster of a +160 PD. Santa Monica teams better plan on going 6-0 in the other rounds, because their chances of pulling a ballot off of these teams are slim to none.

But how can you even dream of going 6-0 in the other rounds with a B bracket this strong? See our TTW for ASU A, but if you want the TLDR, they are good. Topping the B bracket is SLO A. Granted, this is certainly not the SLO team that made it to Nats last year. In fact, every member of that NCT bench is gone. But if you think that’s enough to discount Cal Poly SLO, then you’ll be in for a surprise. Even in this rebuilding year, All-American Melissa Toussimehr has led her team back to ORCS, and they are sure to take a ballot or two off of unsuspecting teams. While we are on the subject of losing ballots to teams, let’s talk UCLA B. A 7-1 finish at Ramblin’ Wreck against 4 ORCS-level teams and a 7-1 Regionals finish where they split +7 -4 with A bracket team UC Irvine A proves this team will be fighting their way to the end of Round 4. We’d recommend keeping your eyes on All-Regional performers and UClassic award winners Kole Alfonso, Nasier Muldrow, and Dyllan Balassi. Cal B bottoms the B bracket in TPR, but certainly not in results. They managed a 7-1 second place finish at UClassic and a 7-0-1 first place win at ATypical. They lost a lot of that momentum when they squeaked through the Seattle regionals with only 5.5 wins, but if they can pick up the pace they started this winter season with, they are sure to be in the hunt. And those are just brackets A and B. Down in the C and D brackets you have a lot of talented B teams who could break through the pack: UCSB B, Stanford B, ASU B. There are also teams new to the region that could throw West Coasters off their usual rhythm, like MIT B (who, through the mercy of the open bid list, is taking a cross-country flight to attend ORCS). The fact of the matter is no one is safe. It doesn’t matter if it is a D bracket round. Doesn’t matter if the team is an open-bid. Doesn’t matter how clean you think your run can be. One wrong step in Santa Monica, and the season is over. So if you’re reading this and you’re competing in Santa Monica, best of luck! May the sun shine upon you and may all of your 403’s get sustained. You are going to need both.

Team to Watch: Arizona State A
If you’re wondering why teams like MIT and Princeton are here, you can thank Arizona State’s program. ASU did something that only the University of Florida has done before, sending five teams to regionals and earning five bids to ORCS (#5for5). That depth is impressive, sure, and probably that alone is the reason they’re our team to watch, but what it isn’t is much consolation for the Sun Devils when they’re looking to chart a course to Memphis. In order to see the Arizona State A in Memphis, they’re going to need to pull off two things: take a ballot or two off their A bracket matchup and sweep their lower matchups. Now you might be sitting there and saying to yourself “Gee, Mr. MAIMD—you have to win ballots at ORCS to go to Nationals. What a shocking hot take.” We don’t appreciate your sass, actually, and we bring this up because ASU’s problem isn’t the one that most teams face. The past two years, they’ve actually performed well in their A bracket matchups. In 2021, they won 2 of 3 ballots against UC Santa Barbara A, and last year, they split UCLA B. They’ve continued that trend this year in Fresno by earning 1.5 wins against Stanford A. While these aren’t teams anyone is ever going to feel comfortable hitting, Arizona State has about as solid a track record as you can get against the best of the west. But that high-level prowess has never translated to getting the Sun Devils to NCT. That’s where we get to that second thing Arizona State needs to do, because their problem isn’t their A bracket—it’s the B and C brackets. While they went 3-2 against their A bracket over the past two years, they went 2-3 against their B bracket and 2-3 against their C bracket in those same years. Once again, this year they’ve continued that trend by going 1.5 wins against Stanford B in Fresno, who will be a C bracket team in Santa Monica. If they’re able to go 4-0 after day 1, we think there’s a really high chance that you see ASU on the podium, potentially at the very top. But a split here and a split there might leave them disappointed. While we would usually tell you to look out for All Regional Attorneys Adam Scarborough and Aaron Gonzalez, the truth is those aren’t the only threats on the radar. While ASU hasn’t racked up much of a repertoire at invites this season, they dominated Rebel Trojan and picked up their fair share of awards at each regionals, meaning their talent pool goes beyond the A squad that went to Fresno. ASU has a history of bringing some representatives from the lower teams with them to ORCS. Whoever they choose to pull-up isn’t just bringing the talent they used to get their bid, they are also bringing the enemy intel they’ve learned. With 5 teams bidding across 3 ORCS, the ASU program has gotten to see a lot of these high level ORCS teams in-round already. That means if you see ASU A this weekend, there’s a decent chance they’ve actually already seen you, so get ready for them to know your theory and exactly how to dismantle it. In short, this really could be the year the sun shines on the Sun Devils. They’ve got the competitors, they’ve got the knowledge, and they’ve got the momentum. But now is the point where ASU has to get the one thing they’ve been lacking these last few years: results. If there is any time for the Tempe team to turn their tide, it’s now. Best of luck to the Sun Devils, and to whoever has the misfortune of facing them.


St. Paul: ‘Open Bid Bin’ (MAIMD Ranking 2/8 ORCS)
-4 teams in top 25, 6 teams in top 50, 11 teams in top 100
-6 NCT Returners

First In:
Chicago A

Bubble:
UMBC A
Patrick Henry B
Boston A
Chicago B
Minnesota A
Macalester A
Wisconsin A
Iowa A
Kansas A

Initial Thoughts:
Some ORCS are scary because they’re unbalanced. Some ORCS are scary because they’re chock full of powerhouses. But we promise you this, simple-minded MAIMD reader: no ORCS—this season, or maybe any season to come—is scary like St. Paul is going to be. Because no ORCS in a long time has been this much of a clusterfuck. Welcome to St. Paul, Minnesota: AMTA’s biggest oopsie-daisy. So, like any good defense opener will tell you in the second paragraph of their statement, let’s take a step back. How do the echo-y gymnasiums of St. Paul come to once again be hallowed by teenagers doing lawyer cosplay? What forces the Sentinels and Retrievers to empty out their program’s treasuries for plane tickets to the cold, bleak, midwest? The answer to that, my friends, is AMTA Tournament Advisory Committee chair: Andy Hogan. A man with a plan. A plan to have a standard Cedar Rapids ORCS with a slightly lighter—but not absurd—field. A plan that was dashed: by reliable hosts backing out, reliable teams falling short, and reliable, predictable Regionals results not resulting. So, as a man no longer with a plan but still with a responsibility—to balance the ORCS as best he could—Andy Hogan slap-dashed together the Frankenstein’s monster you see above. An ORCS stitched together from the NCT powerhouses that fell short from a Regionals bid this February. Oh, except also UChicago’s here like they normally are and they don’t really fit the Frankenstien/clusterfuck metaphor. Expect the Maroons to be kind of like their closer slash baseball-pun-enthusiast, Sam Farnsworth: obviously very good, but to a degree that makes them kind of boring (at least for write-up purposes). They’ll bid. Nothing more to say.

Don’t believe us? Look at who we’ve got here—heaps of teams who have the records to substantiate doing quite well or quite poorly up North. Take the Retrievers of UMBC—NCT Champions from just two years back, returning two competitors from that team plus Brinda De Tchappi, who has taken home attorney awards at pretty much every tournament she attended this year. Sure, all that sounds good on paper, but what about the fact that they’re only here in St. Paul because two weeks ago they dropped ballots to American’s C team and failed to make it out of Regionals? The same goes for Patrick Henry B, who earlier this season we were calling the best B team in the country—and later this season we were calling the team that tied ballots with Ohio State C and then dropped both to Ohio State B. Or what about the UW Madison A-but-actually-B-but-actually-they’re-unstacked, the other powerhouse that Hogan was counting on to balance out St. Paul? While they’ve got talent in their own right, including All-Regional attorney Lauren Stoneman and top performer Margaret Mueller, they’re kind of like the cast of the second season of Glee: another group of loveable underdogs—with perhaps a little bit less of the first season’s magic. When you factor in that these teams are joined by a whole handful of ORCS hopefuls who usually get close to doing mock trial in April—Boston, Minnesota, Macalester, Kansas, Iowa—it’s easy to see that something strange is going to happen in St. Paul. And remember, if the field isn’t enough to convince you that this ORCS is going to have some unpredictability, the Minnesota judging pool ought to be. The most notable AMTA competition in the Land of 1,000 Lakes had some very normal, predictable things happened: like a team of all-returning NCT finalists finishing last in their division and first-ever TBC champion—the mummified Nick Ramos—winding up at the bottom of the heap. We’ll see what the open bid bin shakes out.

Team to Watch: Chicago B
Remember what we said about Patrick Henry B being the best B team in the nation? We might have spoken too soon on that one. Because for an NCT returning team from a program of final round contending fame, this lineup of B team Maroons really hasn’t gotten quite the amount of attention you’d expect. This is a team that walked through this ORCS last year while only dropping one ballot, a team that left CUBAIT with a 6-2 honorable mention, and a team that took ballots off of Northwood, Miami, and the University of Georgia at Great Chicago Fire despite being the only B team in the field. And there hasn’t been so much as a peep (from us included) about how these kids might be the real deal–the tomato soup to Farnsworth and Alekri’s grilled cheese. In any other program, on any other roster, this group of mockers wouldn’t just be an A team—they’d be an A team who we’d be watching real closely. So who is obscured by the massive shadow that God Emperor Ali Alekri casts? First off we’ve got Stephanie Yu, Alison Oh, and Elijah Bulie—the anchors of Chicago B’s benches. While Stephanie Yu is the obvious shoutout for a star on UChicago B—leaving the Madison regionals with a 17-Rank award on the defense–you’d be unwise to overlook her co-counsel. Her co-captain, Allison Oh, took home hardware at Northwestern’s Mock at the Rock as a middle on the plaintiff, so she’s got the chops to pack a punch against high level teams no matter what role she’s in. As for our third attorney shoutout (again, usually not necessary for a B-team writeup), there’s really just two words to describe Elijah Bulie: star power. If his platform boots don’t impress the judges the moment he steps into the well, his command as a statement-giver is sure to. Their witness roster is filled out by reliable stalwart and 20-rank all-regional witness Carter Beckstein, and breakout star freshman Emberlynn St. Hilaire. Make no mistake: Hilaire is not yet the best character witness in the country. Until superstar Max “throw glitter at ‘em” Fritsch graduates, she won’t even be the best character witness on her team. But very, very soon—within the next couple of years—Hilaire is going to be in serious contention for that title, and we’re calling that one while we’re ahead. With all this said, if history tells us anything, it’s that we might be over-hyping the Maroons here. While this team is undeniably talented, a very talented UChicago B went to the National Championship last year too–and unlike their A team counterparts, they didn’t exactly leave triumphant. Instead, they took home the worst record in their division. But who knows? The last time Mock in the Midwest went to the great region of Minneapolis-ish, Minnesota, a B team cleaned everyone’s clocks and wound up in the final. We’ll see if the Maroons can give us an upset quite that big.


Washington DC: ‘Small Puppy, Big American’ (MAIMD Ranking 8/8 ORCS)
-1 teams in top 25, 5 teams in top 50, 10 teams in top 100
-4 NCT Returners

First In:
Virginia A
American A

Bubble:
Fordham LC A
Penn State A
Penn A
Cornell A
Howard A
American B
GW A
Haverford A

Initial Thoughts:
Washington, D.C. Our nation’s capital. Home of the United States Senate, where Virginia Mock Trial just had yet another federal judge confirmed last week. The program’s track record in front the world’s most vaunted deliberative body is now 2 for 2, which is somehow better than their ORCS track record in front of randoms with blue ballots in recent years. The Cavaliers top the A bracket in Washington, which should come as no real surprise to anyone. They are, after all, still one of the premier mock trial organizations in the country. But their star begins to wane ever so slightly. Their B team failed to make it out of Regionals, their A team finished poorly at NCT last year, their big dog James Orr has shrunk to a small puppy Ethan Marx. Even still, we would be surprised to see a repeat of their misadventures at the Cincinnati ORCS in 2020. They will bid. Right up there with UVA is American A, who were in it till the bitter end at NCT last year and have everything they need to be right there again. Annalyn St. Ledger and Nora Sullivan are as good a duo as any in the country. The team swept UMBC at Regionals, and the only blip on the radar is their loss to UMD at Hilltop. Fordham LC A are as good an ORCS team as any in the country. They always have their schtick down pat, and they always manage to be just thorny enough to poke the living daylights out of their opposition without prickling the judges. Howard will be, as usual, a wild-card: some years they’re brilliant and some years they’re not, and it’s very hard to predict which type of year this one will be. Penn State will be looking to avenge their disappointing finish last spring, and with no Jack Gaul and no Dan Cohen, their path to do it is certainly more difficult—but we won’t ever underestimate the Nittany Lions. GW A, William & Mary A, American B, and Penn A are all birds of a feather—teams with a fairly ho-hum track record that sometimes manage to break through. If we have to pick one this year, we’ll put our money on Katie Volpert and Penn. And, of course, there is Columbia—who are faring perhaps a bit worse than their counterparts a touch to the south at NYU in their joint quest to reclaim their spot in the pantheon of mock trial powerhouses. Splits to Seton Hall and Swarthmore at Regionals do not bode well for them in Washington D.C., but Hermella Getachew is a name to watch—and with a lineup of all-star coaches, this team is on the rise.

The bottom half of the field here is nothing to write home about. Haverford is the only genuine threat: they skyrocketed to national prominence in 2018 and then promptly faded right back into non-existence after Drew Evans graduated, but here they are, on the rise once more. Inspired by their freshman standout, Isabella Otterbein, and their award-vacuuming expert, Rebecca Stern, Haverford appear to be jockeying for an NCT bid for the first time in a little while. The Washington, D.C. ORCS’ saving grace is its anemic D bracket, which includes such mock trial powerhouses as Swarthmore, Liberty B, and Drexel. Perhaps if Phil Pasquarello spent less time recording video podcasts with his best friend Bennett Demsky, he could help Drexel’s undergraduate team out at this ORCS; perhaps if he traveled with them to Washington, he could see his other best friend: William Mueller, American University’s golden boy. Suffice it to say that we do not predict a shock bid from the D bracket. Perennial underdog Stevenson University rounds out the bottom half of teams here at this ORCS—they’re a standout in the C bracket, mostly because they seem to do mock trial with, honestly, a little bit more heart than most. You need more than just heart to earn a bid to NCT, but one of these years, Stevenson is going to get it done.

Team to Watch: Liberty A
Liberty’s just one of these teams—you know they type. They perform well at mildly-competitive invitationals, they comfortably bid out of regionals, and they stuck just under the threshold required to get out of ORCS. But this year? We think freedom might absolutely ring. Let’s take a step back here: Liberty hasn’t always been one of these teams. In fact, just last year, when they earned a 7-1 record at regionals and a 4-4 record at ORCS, it was the best the team has ever performed in the program’s history. Now in the world of online mock, especially in a world where a newer team rises to the top, there’s a always a question of whether they will prevail in person, without the liberty of the control-F feature and the privilege and immunity of a quick-witted co-counsel feeding objection responses from the other side of an empty room. But Liberty advanced two teams out of regionals this year, with each picking up a 6-2 record in Williamsburg. Look, advancing out of Regionals is always something for an up and coming program to be proud of—but 6-2 isn’t just scraping by, it’s really getting out of there. Granted, they didn't have the most challenging schedule, and they had a very even +10, -10 split with William and Mary’s B team. But the fact that Liberty’s own B team was able to pretty comfortably edge out Virginia B is pretty impressive, and it speaks to their programmatic depth. In terms of personnel, attorney and captain Emma Scharstein is an absolute powerhouse, having earned double All-Regional attorney awards last year and a 19-ranker this year. Now let’s be clear about something: we aren’t expecting the first-out team to be singing “oh say can you see” in the GW Ballroom. But we do think that even the most experienced teams should think twice before doubting Liberty. With a little luck and maybe a few flubs from the other side of the aisle, we think it’s possible they pick up 4 to 5 ballots at ORCS. Will they make it on the podium? We’ll bet a purple mountain and few amber waves of grain on it.

Hey, I'm Will Warihay and am replying on behalf of GT Mock Trial. I certainly appreciate that these analysis are fun and I generally have no problem with them (and used to contribute to the same type of thing when I competed). I also typically do not respond to these types of things, but I feel compelled in this circumstance. A significant portion of your information regarding our teams, our members names, their roles, their experience, and our program/coaching structure are incorrect. For example, you list members as being on GT B that either are no longer on our teams or compete on GT A. I expect that if the information about our program is incorrect, that there is likely a portion of incorrect information about other teams in this post as well.

Along those lines, we would respectfully ask that you please remove your description of our team from your post, including the names of members of our program. Our members are particularly concerned because you use a number of full names that also contain incorrect information about those individuals, such that they would likely show up in a search of their names going forward by future employers/entities. We would further ask that before you include this type of information about our teams and/or team members, including using specific people's names, roles, experience and work, that you would confirm the accuracy of the information with us before posting publicly on the internet. You can feel free to reach out to me directly at w.warihay at Gmail with questions about our program, to confirm your information and/or to request permission to post specifics about our program in this fashion going forward.

In general, of course, we appreciate the kind words about our program and wish you all and everyone else in the community the best of luck at ORCS!

will181198 wrote:Hey, I'm Will Warihay and am replying on behalf of GT Mock Trial.  I certainly appreciate that these analysis are fun and I generally have no problem with them (and used to contribute to the same type of thing when I competed).  I also typically do not respond to these types of things, but I feel compelled in this circumstance.  A significant portion of your information regarding our teams, our members names, their roles, their experience, and our program/coaching structure are incorrect.  For example, you list members as being on GT B that either are no longer on our teams or compete on GT A.  I expect that if the information about our program is incorrect, that there is likely a portion of incorrect information about other teams in this post as well.

Along those lines, we would respectfully ask that you please remove your description of our team from your post, including the names of members of our program.  Our members are particularly concerned because you use a number of full names that also contain incorrect information about those individuals, such that they would likely show up in a search of their names going forward by future employers/entities.  We would further ask that before you include this type of information about our teams and/or team members, including using specific people's names, roles, experience and work, that you would confirm the accuracy of the information with us before posting publicly on the internet.  You can feel free to reach out to me directly at w.warihay at Gmail with questions about our program, to confirm your information and/or to request permission to post specifics about our program in this fashion going forward.

In general, of course, we appreciate the kind words about our program and wish you all and everyone else in the community the best of luck at ORCS!

We’re sorry for anything that we got wrong about your team in the above post. We rely mostly on tab summaries and what we can glean from team social media, and that means we make mistakes sometimes.

We removed the entire writeup on Georgia Tech B to make sure all concerns are addressed. Going forward, we won’t be emailing to ask for permission to write about any team, but if you do notice any factual inaccuracies about your team, please just DM us and let us know. We are more than happy to correct it. We want to be as accurate as possible, and we have always had a policy of making changes whenever anyone has messaged us about something we’ve gotten wrong.

Thanks for reaching out and good luck to Georgia Tech A and B in Greenville!

MockAnalysisIsMyDrug wrote:Last time an AMTA competition was hosted in this part of the Land of 1,000 Lakes, some very normal, predictable things happened: like a team of all-returning NCT finalists finishing last in their division and first-ever TBC champion—the mummified Nick Ramos—winding up at the bottom of the heap. We’ll see what the open bid bin shakes out.

People keep saying there hasn't been an AMTA tournament in the Twin Cities since the NCT (including the tournament host in its judge-recruiting materials), and that simply isn't true. There were regionals in 2019 and 2020 hosted by Hamline in Saint Paul: 2019, 2020