2024 Regionals Analysis Week 4

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 regionals! If you aren't on here, then prove us wrong! If you made our list, then prove us right! - MockAnalysisIsMyDrug

Arlington: (17 Teams) ‘Razorback Rodeo’ (MAIMD Ranking 7/30)
-0 teams in top 50, 3 teams in top 100, 8 teams in top 200

First In:
Arkansas A

Bubble:
Dillard A
Texas B
Arkansas B
Texas, Dallas A
Southern Methodist A
Louisiana Monroe A
Texas, Dallas B

Initial Thoughts:
At first glance, this Regional doesn’t look that bad. It has strong teams, but no true powerhouses, not even a single team in the top 50. With a lack of any obvious superstar program, you might be surprised to know that this regional comes in the top 10 on our difficulty charts. The reason is simple: There are only 4 bids to split amongst the 8 teams in the top 200 who’ll be driving out to Arlington. Usually, if you are in the top 200 teams, you are a strong contender to go through (after all, there are 192 ORCS bids). In fact, at multiple regular-sized Regionals, there are fewer than 8 teams in the top 200. But the geographic nightmare of Texas mini-regionals means that there aren’t as many bids to go around at this tournament. It seems that AMTA’s plan to boost the strength of this area is succeeding.

At the top of this field, we have Arkansas. They will need to get through this Regional first, but we expect they will have their eyes trained on not just an ORCS bid, but on making another run at nationals. This team has lost some of their leading talent from last year’s team ---like Julianna Kantner (2023 All-ORCS Attorney), and Harrison Merrick (2023 All-ORCS witness). But they have also had some new additions to A step up, like Luke Hubbard who picked up 17 ranks at Arch Invite to add to a collection from last year as well. Arkansas’ our clear favorite here, and who we’d place as the safest bet at the Razorback Rodeo.

Following Arkansas we have two teams that are on the nationals cusp. UT has always had a strong and deep program, especially the last few years, with their A team going to NCT in 2022 and 2023. Last year, it even looked like their B team was poised to follow them. UT B went 5-3 at ORCS last year, missing out on an NCT bid by two spots. And we have every reason to believe that they have the depth to keep up that kind of performance. At regionals last year, they had three teams earn bids out of regionals, including their C team going a perfect 8--0. Even with some losses to graduation like 2x All-American, Madhavi Subramaniam, we expect them to still have the depth to post an impressive record from their B team–meaning no one should be feeling comfortable drawing a pairing against them. Rounding out the top is Dillard A who made an underdog run to the National Championship two years ago and nearly repeated the feat when they went 5-3 at ORCS last year. So we would say that we expected them to fly through this Regionals. We do have some cause for concern though. Dillard has been notably absent from invitationals this season and was one of the last teams to register. We’re a bit worried whether they’ll be able to hit the ground running at NCT contender level without shaking off the rust first–especially with a case this complex.

The real fight will be a battle for that last spot. UT Dallas A&B, Arkansas B, and Louisiana Monroe all hit the 5 ballot threshold for an ORCS bid last year and Southern Methodist has historically been in the mix as well. Not all of them will be getting out. We expect more than a few surprises in Arlington and given how small the margin for error is at a five-bid Regional, we would not be surprised to see one of our high level ORCS teams get unlucky and fail to bid. Cross your fingers if you’re competing in Arlington this weekend–it’s going to be a nail-biter.

Team to Watch: Texas Christian University A

It feels like almost every season, we get the big February surprise, where some brand-new yet-unheard of program comes up to the gate swinging and snags a bid when we didn’t see it coming. We’re not fantastic at calling these–usually teams like these don’t give a whole lot of signs before they explode–but for what it’s worth, TCU has all of the makings to be next up in the prediction books. The “mock frogs” started their team in just 2021 and have been expanding rapidly since then in both size and competitiveness. You want star power? TCU has plenty. You've got Gene Hermann snagging an award not once, not twice, but four times as an attorney and a witness. Then there's Cole O'Brian and Elizabeth Meye crushing it as attorneys and earning their fair share of props. Now, just because they're a young team doesn't mean they're green when it comes to racking up those ballots at regionals. Last year, they rolled into the Norman Oklahoma Regionals with not one, but two teams and didn’t disappoint us with either. They came back with records of 4.5 and 2.5 respectively—not setting the world afire, but a strong showing for a greener team. And if they were able to snag an honorable mention last year, you better believe they've been putting in the work to clinch that bid this year. TCU is on the rise, and they're not stopping until they've secured their spot at the top.

Columbia: (24 Teams) ‘Southern Shuffle’ (MAIMD Ranking 9/30)
-2 teams in top 50, 3 teams in top 100, 10 teams in top 200

First In:
Emory A

Bubble:
Florida B
Emory B
Florida C
Tennessee A
Georgia State A
Davidson A
Central Florida A
Elon A

Initial Thoughts:
Coming as a surprise to absolutely no one, this Regional is going to be tough. Since South Carolina became a host, Columbia has typically been prime hunting grounds for strong southern teams. We have to chuckle at how similar the top teams from Columbia’s first Regionals are to some of the top teams of today (Furman, Emory, UGA, and Florida, to name a few). But what you’ll notice this year, with one glaring exception in Emory, is that none of those programs’ A teams are here this year. In that tradeoff, though, Columbia gained both Florida B and Florida C. With Florida’s inscrutable track record in securing bids for a horde of their teams, these B and C teams have just as good of a shot at a trophy as some programs’ A. While that’s great news for the Gators, the bad news for everyone else is that since only A and B teams are TPR-ranked, the presence of Florida C makes this Regional significantly stronger than it appears by AMTA’s analytics. Combine that with the obvious threat of Emory A (captained by former Trial by Combat second chair Fiona Liu and consistent standout Raquel Sherman), you can see why the Soda City is named the fourth hardest Regional this year. As if one Emory team isn’t enough to send hopefuls running for cover, Emory B is joining them with David Lee and Saanya Kapasi leading the charge.

While the top of the food chain circle above to find their victories, we suspect some solid strength is lingering in the shadows hoping to dodge their paths. The Volunteers of the University of Tennessee have quietly, but steadily, been gaining their strength the past few seasons, notably going 5-3 at ORCS last year. While losing star attorney Natalie Parisi certainly drained the team of some of their momentum from last year, we’re hopeful this was just a glancing blow. With double threat awarders in Jayden Hasting and Andrea Subtirelu, as well as respectable team performances at their recent invitationals, Tennessee may be able to slyly strike an unsuspecting opponent. We believe Georgia State could be in a similar position, especially with their impressive performance at the Chapel Hill Regional last year, making them our Team to Watch. The remaining teams in the Bubble are all capable of packing a punch too. Davidson narrowly missed an earned bid at Chapel Hill by two and a half CS points last year, and seem to be keeping several of their team members who must be hungry for their first earned bid. Elon and the University of Central Florida are both long established teams that have been lying in wait for stand out seasons throughout most of recent memory. UCF infamously “burst our bubble” last year, making it out of Regionals with an earned bid for the first time in half a decade. This time around, we’re not so quick to discount the Knights, so long as they can effectively weave their way past the looming threat of their neighbors to the North.

With talent lurking around every corner in Columbia, we expect some blood to be shed come closing ceremonies. Will the top dogs keep their thrones at the peak of the pack? Or can some underdogs here claw their ways to a bid?

Good luck to the Maroons of Roanoke College in their first Regionals!

Team to Watch: Georgia State A
Duke. George Washington. South Carolina. These are all teams that Georgia State beat out for the top finish at the Chapel Hill Regional last year. A CS of 15 may seem to explain these results as simply a lucky path, but if we dig a little deeper, we can see that that was not the case. A healthy sweep of Richmond, a sweep against George Washington B, and a narrow split with Duke A landed the Panthers a hard fought 7-1 record. A record that should remind the rest of the field not to count out GSU come Regionals this year. That said, we can’t say it’ll be all sunshine and roses. We feel the need to give that reminder as GSU struggled to get much going in the fall this year. An honorable mention of 6-6 at Crimson Classic was the highest peak the team reached. But as we have learned time and time again, invitational results can oftentimes be deceiving. While some teams stack early and play hard, others take that valuable time to develop into a powerhouse come time for Regionals. From what we can tell, it appears that much of the team that earned the top bid last year has left, making distinguishing between having an off-year and gearing up to storm into the Regionals all the more difficult. With the guidance of Maggy Randels Schuette, long time coach and newly minted AMTA board member to boot, it’s entirely possible that GSU is pursuing the latter. Either way, Georgia State is a team with a lot to prove this year. Let’s see what they do with the opportunity.

Columbus: (23 Teams) ‘Scenes from an Ohio Courthouse’ (MAIMD Ranking 10/30)
-2 teams in top 50, 5 teams in top 100, 8 teams in top 200

First In:
Hillsdale A

Bubble:
Cincinnati A
Penn State A
Hillsdale B
OSU B
OSU C
Xavier A
Case Western B
Ohio University A
Carnegie Mellon A

Initial Thoughts:
We’ve got an analogy for ya here. Just as the Midwest Regional tournaments tend to give us a less edgy, more milquetoast version of high-flash Mock Trial, little-known dad rock musician Billy Joel gives white men across the country the pep and pizzazz of recently-disgraced rapper Nikki Minaj. Therefore (in the most transparent and embarrassing theft of content since UVA quoted 2016 Yale at this year’s GCF), just as we themed the Providence Regional on the Queen of Rap, we’ll be theming this year’s Columbus Regional on the storied discography of the Piano Man.

“Only the Good Die Young” - Hillsdale A and B

“Only the Good Die Young” is a motto the Chargers live by, at least when it comes to undergraduate lawyer cosplay. In order to prevent their Spring season from ‘dying young’ and guarantee they make it to see April, Hillsdale has a trademark style of tactical calculated objections and intricately crafted, meticulously absurd theories. If you’ve ever stepped into a courtroom with the Chargers, you know exactly what you’re talking about–and you’re probably mildly irritated by the recollection. Facts are, Hillsdale Mock Trial have gained themselves some level of infamy from playing this polarizing style of mock. We’re not here to assign normative judgements to mock trial strategies–let’s face it folks, it’s lawyer cosplay–but we do find it fun that this team of competitors who “got a nice white dress and a party on their confirmation” are the mock trial bad boys of the midwest. We think there’s some part of co-captains Abigail Davis and Caleb Sampson that find being the (mock trial) sinners much more fun. Someone’s gotta shake things up. They might as well be the ones.

“Pressure” - Cincinnati A

This song was basically a must-pick for our lists, both because it’s an underrated Billy Joel classic and because it captures the feeling that most programs, even at the highest level, have about Regionals. But when we had to pick which one of the teams in Dayton was “in the ninth/Two men out and three men on/ [with] nowhere to look but inside”--there was no pick but the Bearcats of Cincinnati A. What else can a team feel, returning to the AMTA circuit, after graduating six seniors–among them double all-american Divya Kumar, All-National extraordinaire Zophia Pittman-Jones, and superstar opener Jessica Lorenzo? Competitors like award winning Attorney Mackenzie Collett and witness Sara Rebman have been left with the task of carrying the torch during a rough rebuilding year. We’ve been sufficiently underwhelmed by the bearcats’ performances this fall–mustering winning records at Scarlet and Gray and IUPUI but not quite managing 6 ballots–but what’s more worrying is Cincinnati as a program have attended only ⅓ of the tournaments we typically see them at. With less prep, huge shoes to fill, and an absence of the familiar faces we’ve come to see, it’s clear that in Columbus the Bearcats will have to deal with pressure.

“Uptown Girl” - Xavier A

Why, pray tell, is Xavier A assigned Billy Joel’s classic earworm ‘Uptown Girl’? I’ll tell you exactly why, dear reader: because theming an entire Regional is hard and sometimes you have to make compromises. For example, an author might have to strain difficult metaphors–like analogizing the higher-end Regionals team Xavier A to Joel’s ‘Downtown man’ and the bid they’re aiming to leave Columbus with as their ‘uptown girl.’ Perhaps an author could do so by contending that Columbus is ‘uptown’ from Xavier University in that it is geographically, about 100 miles north. To cut through the cheese and straight to the analysis, Xavier hasn’t had a spectacular invite season thus far, but maybe award-winning competitors from the Indy Mock Hundred invitational Kaleb Walters and Ethan Hall will see their ship come in at the Columbus Regional, and be ready to show all of AMTA what kind of mockers they’ve been.

“You May Be Right” - Case Western B

Let me break the golden rule for a moment here. Imagine, if you will, you’re in the too-small heels of a freshman middle in Columbus Ohio. Your brilliant flip-flop salesman Parker Orlov direct is going the best it’s ever gone. But then, just as you’re about to ping-pong off of your witness’ answer, the opposing counsel from CWRU B stands up and makes an objection to your direct that you have never even fathomed. Two things can happen here–a dichotomy brilliantly laid out by Mr. Joel. They may be right. Or they may be crazy. Because if you only need to know one thing about CWRU B before Columbus, it’s that they take CWRU’s typical flaw of being just a touch too…manic for the midwest, and ramp that up to the level of ‘lunatic.’ Usually, that’s just fine for Regionals–they tend to bid with a record somewhere in the 6s–but this past season it wasn’t, and the Spartan left the bid-killer Dayton Regionals with a 4-4 record. Will that become a pattern? It’s hard to say. The Spartans certainly have some talent on the roster. They’ve got every judge’s second-favorite witness in round Robin Ghotra (an expert with five awards, all of them at 16 ranks), and Rookie Rumble and Scarlet and Grey awardee witness Nidhi Byragoni. We’ll see how the Spartans hold up in Columbus. Right or wrong, we wouldn’t want ‘em any other way.

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” - Ohio State B and C.

The author of this post originally wanted to write this feature as a direct parody of Billy Joel’s 1989 classic (“Maddie Driscoll, Tamara J, Ragnone and John H, Defendiefer, Eric Roytman, Cla-a-a-y Owens”), but our editor responded that that draft was “literally awful” and requested this author write something “coherent.” So here’s our v2 take on Ohio State B and C.

Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is a tribute to to how humanity persists–through crisis, through war, through radical changes in art and culture–and how despite all the changes, something fundamental stays the same. To make a truly insane claim, in that respect Ohio State Mock Trial is a little like human civilization. There are certainly people who have taken this year’s A team failure in Dayton as a sign that the Buckeyes are over and done with, but to look at this as the end of the road means you’re missing the expanse of the map. Alana Becker. Angela Ryan. Bilal Chaudry. Danielle Boyd. Max Baca. Maya Greller. Prisha Patel. Garrett Travers. These are names that are part of a program whose story extends beyond just what happened at one fateful February tournament. These are names who, regardless of what happens in Columbus this weekend, are part of a blaze that’s been always burning since the world’s been turning…or at least since AMTA was founded 1985.

“I Go to Extremes” – Carnegie Mellon
4-4.
3-5.
4-3-1.
3-3-2.
Carnegie Mellon joins CWRU and MIT among a number of AMTA’s STEM-school mock wannabes–programs that show their science and technology background every so often with expert witnesses who are taking this whole thing just a little bit too seriously. But it doesn’t take a mathematical genius to realize that Carnegie Mellon A’s number of ballots won the past two seasons averages out to a neat 3.875, or rounding up, 4. Perfectly balanced. Even. Some might even dare to call it ‘mid.’ No one likes a losing records at regionals, but we have to imagine that after finishing four consecutive seasons in the middle of the pack, the Terriers are ready to throw caution to the wind and go to extremes. We have some optimistic signs that the change in approach for the terriers might be for the better–a third place finish at Genesco Joust and performers like Attorney Ryan Driscoll securing hardware on both sides of the case–but honestly at this point, we feel they’ll take anything but another 4 and 4. We’ll see where on the tab summary these Scotties shake out–because one thing’s for sure: in Columbus for CMU, it’s “Too high or too low–there ain't no in-betweens”

“Vienna” – In additional to a handful of familiar midwestern faces, this regional also features four new teams. Good luck to the Yellowjackets of Cedarville A & B and the Tigers of Wittenberg A & B. Welcome to the world of AMTA. Vienna waits for you.

Team to Watch: Penn State A
“For the Longest Time”

Poor Penn State. Let’s run through a quick history lesson here. In 2020, Penn State breaks from the Cincinnati ORCS, managing to pull the only bid off of the 7-1 behemoth Ohio State. Their prize? A pandemic, and no mock in April even for those who earned it. In 2021, they steamrolled through their ORCS competition, pulling ballots off of even their A bracket pairings, to earn the joy of…Zoom Nationals. The next two years Penn State gets close, with a weird 5-3 record in 2022 and a 3-4-1 Record in 2023. This is less relevant as an indicator for how this year’s Penn State team will actually perform–all the competitors on the 2020 and 2021 team are long graduated. But bidding to Nationals, and the belief that you’ve got a real shot at that plane ticket in April, are integral to the culture of a sustainably competitive program. That matters here because, as we just detailed, Penn State has been waiting to actually go to a National Tournament…for the longest time. So do the Nittany Lions have the teeth to make 2024 their season? Quoth the eight-ball, signs point to yes. The last outing we saw from Penn State they were taking home a smooth second-place finish at Georgetown’s Hilltop Invitational, where character witness Yousef Hanna took home double awards and defense closer Pat McGlynn snagged 17 ranks alongside him. Considering the Lions earned their ballots off of high-level ORCS programs like Maryland, George Washington, Minnesota and their evil twins UPenn, we don’t have a tone of concern about how this weekend will go for them. But what comes next for Penn State A? Whether this is when we see what hasn’t happened for the longest time come to pass? We’ll see. They’re wonderful so far and [a bid] is all that we hope for.

Fresno: (22 Teams) ‘The Anteater, the Cardinal, and the Wardrobe of California Teams’ (MAIMD Ranking 13/30)
-2 teams in top 50, 3 teams in top 100, 9 teams in top 200

First In:
UC Irvine A
Stanford A

Bubble:
UC Irvine B
Stanford B
UC Berkeley C
Santa Clara A
UC Santa Cruz A
UC Davis A
UC Berkeley D

Initial Thoughts:
Fresno. Yeah, ‘nuff said. Last year, the difficulties with Fresno started with the snowstorm that teams had to trudge through, and ended with all too familiar names leaving with bids to ORCS. And this year we’re expecting more of the same (competitively, not meteorologically). Fresno is in our top half for difficult regionals, so it’ll be a battle for everyone involved, but we’re looking forward to seeing how it shakes out.

Of course though, we wouldn’t be MAIMD without our semi reliable predictions. Our first-in features two teams who matched up in Round 3 of ORCS last year. Both of them feature some dynamic duos you should be on the lookout for. Leading the charge for the anteaters it’s the deadly combo of Dylan Darwish and Josiah Jones. The team is showing strong results this season. A 2nd place finish at Beach Party and 6 wins at Great Chicago Fire make us think that Irvine will be just fine in this Fresno field. We feel similarly about Stanford. Last year was a rare case that a Stanford team wasn’t represented at Nationals–partially thanks to that aforementioned round three pairing. But their invitational results have been telling. They put together a strong 3rd place finish at Beach Party and took 6 ballots at Ramblin Wreck. Meredith Fenyo has been holding it down on bench since the Grants and Janmohameds of the world have left, and Lee Rosenthal is becoming one of the most recognizable names on west coast tab summaries for his outstanding witness portrayals. All of these things say to us that Stanford is ready for the AMTA season, and we expect you’ll be seeing them at ORCS.

As we move into the bubble, it doesn’t get much easier. Irvine and Stanford both boast powerful B teams that are regulars at ORCS. Lookout for All Regional double threat Kyla Kowalewski from Irvine and All National Attorney Lisa Lu from Stanford. The narrative of program strength continues when we consider Berkeley C and D. With strong finishes at Mocktopia and Beach Party, none of the Berkeley teams here will be a walk in the park as a matchup.

While Fresno is looking like the perfect environment to show program strength, there are some individual teams who’s TPR might be misleading on just how good they are. Just two years ago, UC Davis A was going 8-0 at Regionals, but last year failed to bid. After their A placed third at atypical and their C is already sitting nice and pretty on the open bid list after their impressive Claremont performance, we think they might have turned it around. Similarly, Santa Cruz sent two teams to ORCS in 2022 but last year failed to earn a bid from Fresno. Their invite results haven’t been great this winter, so we’ll see if that’s a reflection of how they’ll do in Fresno. On the other side of that coin, Santa Clara has shown that they are capable of making it out of regionals, earning bids the past three years, but all of them were from Colorado Springs. This is their first year back in Fresno so we’ll see if they can hang in there with the west coast crew after leaving the pacific northwest. After placing at both UCLASSIC and Atypical, we think they can. All three of those teams have the potential to bid, but some favorable pairings may help them avoid the all too common 4-4 finish that no one likes to see.

Overall, Fresno’s depth is what’s going to make it difficult but we expect the tried and true programs will be able to push through. Check out our team to watch, for someone we’ve got our eye on that could shock some folks. And good luck to everyone traveling up to Freson in week 4!

Team to Watch: UC Riverside A
UC Riverside comes into Fresno as an underdog, but if you’re counting the Highlanders out, think again. This is a team that is putting in the work and while the results are hit or miss, we think that the hits could be enough to carry them to a winning record. So let’s start in the fall. They competed twice, they placed both times. Starting off in Arizona where they went 6-2 sweeping established programs like Arizona State, USC and Southern Methodist. They followed up that performance a week later in Irvine going 3-1, once again taking ballots off established west coast powerhouses like UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly SLO and UC San Diego. Coming into winter, it seemed like UC Riverside would be an upcoming threat. While they still were, their winter results weren’t living up to the hype from fall. Their A team competed three weekends in a row in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Luis Obispo and the results were…mid. 3-5 at UCLASSIC, 3-4-1 at Rebel Trojan, 6-1-1 at SLO. Of course the noteworthy one is the 6.5 wins in SLO, but even the teams they beat in SLO add to a pattern. They’re taking ballots off other bubble teams by narrow margins and getting beat by the top teams. With all due respect to the teams they’ve swept, (Santa Barbara C, Portland B, Santa Cruz B and San Diego C) the teams UC Riverside pulled ballots off of are very different from this bubble of teams from Stanford, Irvine and Berkeley. So what does this mean for Fresno? It means they have a shot, but they’ll either need to take ballots off some top teams or get some lucky pairings. Who’s going to lead that charge? Sophomore Matthew Oliver has been racking up awards this year, taking home hardware at ASU, UCLASSIC, Rebel Trojan and a double sided award at SLO. He’s clearly leading their bench and we expect him to cause some damage in Fresno. On the witness side, look out for Anteater award winner Kashish Rai and UCLASSIC award winner Erin Forgett. Good luck to the Highlanders! Let’s hope they shake things up for the west coast.

Haverford: (23 Teams) ‘Patriot Day’ (MAIMD Ranking 22/30)
-1 teams in top 50, 4 teams in top 100, 8 teams in top 200

First In:
George Washington A

Bubble:
Patrick Henry B
American B
Seton Hall A
Johns Hopkins A
Stevenson A
Franklin & Marshall A
Drexel A
Stevenson B

Initial Thoughts:
Four score minus two score plus also another one years ago, our father Richard Calkins brought forth on this continent a new grad school application gem, conceived in ignominy, and dedicated to the proposition that all Regionals are created wack.

Fifteen Presidents before Abraham Lincoln spoke those words, and 45 presidents before today (44 if you combine the two Cleveland terms and 43 depending on where you were on January 6th, 2021), the cherry tree man was elected President of these here United States. Among his directives when leaving office were: don’t create a two party system (failed), don’t spread rumors of my wooden teeth (failed), and include the college named after me and Patty boy and the country in the 2024 Week 4 AMTA Regionals writeup. As patriots, we here at MAIMD endeavor only to honor old Georgie Boy in his request. Let’s get to it.

First in, we have the Georges of GWU A. This should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody - these folks are a returning nationals team with a vengeance. They’ve sunk their teeth, as their mascot once did to an apple tree I think, into the invitational season, placing at least one team outright at Colonial Classic, Quaker Classic, Scarlet Knight, and Hilltop, with an honorable mention at Yale. This is along with a veritable host of individual awards that rival the numbers of the salary that Congress chooses to give themselves - with notably high placing attorney awards for all-regional Neha Davuluri. Give those old Presidents a look onwards.

When Patrick Henry exclaimed “Give me liberty or give me a mock trial team,” he certainly could not have known that he would come with both. PHC B is right up there with their A team - they’ve got the same gumption, candor, and can-do-attitude that gets them to the Nationals stage every year as well. It’s no wonder they consistently do it at a school that was created for the purpose of mocking trial and trying mock. Those good old patriots are joined by the country they represent, American. This cracked team is rolling through to ring that Liberty Bell, cracked as it may also be, fresh off a 6-2 win at Hilltop, with a 19-ranker for witness Karran Mehta. If we are to believe in the mission posted to their website, a mission that would make any medical school shiver in their boots, these Federal Yappers Supreme are on their way to Mentor, compete with Integrity, and Build success to the top.

Speaking of medical schools, what about the team from the #1 medical school in the country according to people who didn’t get an interview invitation from Harvard or Mayo? We speak, of course, of the Hopkinses of John. These folks have been flying under the radar, but they’re still a CRISPR-sized force to be reckoned with. After setting Charm City and Scarlet Knight on fire unstacked, they have coalesced Teams INTJ, Girlboss, and 3AM into a game-winning team. Hailing from the university with the highest neurosurgery match rate, watch out for returning All-National sophomore expert witness David Zhou, who will certainly make any crosser feel like they’re getting Burr Holes. And when we speak about successful program kids, we are not joking. This team is young - five seniors, four juniors, and eleven sophomores, so that success will continue well into the future.

Let’s tackle the next Presidents in line, owners not of a uniquely US college-name, but certainly in their own ways the coolest darn names for mock trial related things in the US, Seton Hall and Drexel. Seton Hall, hosts of the impeccably named Pirate Invitational, have racked up a truly disgusting 19 individual awards during the invitational season, and more than a couple of those will translate to regionals. And then we arrive at Drexel, who you may recognize from the second page of every AMTA-related booklet you have ever seen. After a second place finish at Temple with perfect rank witness awards for Puneet Gupta at both Temple and Hopkins, they’re ready to let you know why they’re the second page right after “American Mock Trial Association Presents.”

Finally, we arrive at our electrifying dynamic duo, Franklin & Marshall. Their Nomenology is legend. As their first founder once said “Ooh let me fly a kite in a lightning storm, this won’t end badly at all,” and as their other founder soon joined in, “What if the Supreme Court could actually, you know, do stuff” a dynamic duo was born (we are omitting the very important fact that these were two separate colleges that merged). After making it to ORCS for the first time ever in 2021, they bounced back in 2022 with a 6-win bid, but failed to make it out last year. Was that just a blip, and will they return from their Franklinesque electrocution? Armed with ten new first years, they might just get the job done. And watch out for the next time they sell hot chocolate on Thursdays and line up at their door!

Here at Mock Analysis, we live by the words of the founders of America. As John Quincy Adams once said, “the young ones are our future” (at this point, dear reader, we are simply making shit up). We would be remiss if we did not welcome the newest teams to the ring and give them a hearty welcome to the mock trial community.

Good luck to the Profs of Rowan University and the Golden Rams of West Chester University in their first ever regionals!

Team to Watch: Stevenson University
“Pairings are up!” you hear, prompting a mad dash as you fumble your phone to look at the captains’ GroupMe. “1023?” you murmur to yourself, frantically searching through the tournament packet. “Stevenson? Where is Stevenson? What is Stevenson? Dear God…hy is Stevenson?”

Readers, you best find the answers to those questions before it’s too late: giddy-up, because the Mustangs are on a roll. Hailing from a tiny liberal arts college tucked just outside of Baltimore, Stevenson University doesn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of men… yet. While sure, we will admit, last year’s record of two narrow bids at 5-3 and a combined 3-13 at ORCS isn’t exactly frightening, it’s what’s been brewing under the surface this fall that should cause alarm. 3rd at Blue Jay, 4th at Colonel, 4th at Red Devil, and a 1st place trophy from Black Squirrel? My palms are starting to sweat. Three all-regional competitors in Josh Brown, Ahad Khan, and Marissa Chappell are returning for another season? My heart is pounding. They won SPAMTA last year at ORCS? I can’t breathe. You can run, you can hide, but the Mustangs are going to find you, and probably be really nice to you once they do. But to our competitors at Haverford, let this be your warning: don’t underestimate the little guys, or you may fall victim to a monstrous season.


New London: (24 Teams) ‘New London Forever, Whatever the Weather’ (MAIMD Ranking 24/30)
-2 teams in top 50, 4 teams in top 100, 6 teams in top 200

First In:
Boston University A

Bubble:
Princeton A
Fordham RH A
Penn A
Boston University B
Fordham RH B
Quinnipiac A
UMass Amherst B
Williams A

Initial Thoughts:
If northeastern America is called New England, it seems fitting that New London would find itself there as well. Picture it now: the clock tower ringing as new teams learn about All Loss, the light drizzle that makes you reflect on why you made so many paper demos—even the red double-decker bus (sub for the worn family car that someone’s parent lent them) driving all the teams to opening ceremonies! Here in New London, this is a place where we can see all this and more. And at this Regional, we can do it with leisure, as we break down the fair weather competition below.

Let’s start with our little ray of sunshine. First In we have Boston University A, a solid Nationals team that's no stranger to dominating a spring season. This year they’ve won 4th at Yale, 4th at Columbia, and went 6-6 in Chicago. Solid results all around, after all, as a great mock trialer once said, “the fall is for learning and occasionally winning sometimes.” And win they have. This year the Terriers are stacked—they’re keeping double all national Max Bearinger and recently-annointed All American Pedro Juan Orduz. Historically, BU has had no trouble slicing through ORCs, Nats, and up into the highest rounds. Ironically enough, the most difficult part of this team’s 2023 season was in getting out of Regionals—last year this was something they failed to do, and instead sourced their shot from the Open Bids List (thanks Arizona State!). Still, BU is a strong team, and shouldn’t have any trouble controlling the field come week four.

Navigate further into the bubble and things start to get interesting. Listed, we have eight bubble teams, plus Boston, giving us nine top contenders. We know that this Regional is set to have six bids. For the more math-savvy pretend lawyers among us, that means that at least three of these teams won't be making it, and possibly even more if underdog lower teams rise up.

To start, Fordham Rose Hill A, University of Pennsylvania A, and Princeton A are all (almost) locks to bid out. Fordham made it to Nationals last year, ending with a final record of 4-8. Along the way they picked up three All Americans, keeping one in the form of their current star witness Vijdan Gill. The University of Pennsylvania, likewise, ended the season in Memphis with 4.5-7.5. And while Princeton A wasn’t able to get to Nationals last year, it’s certainly not for lack of trying. They ran a respectable 6-2 in the bloodbath that was the New Rochelle ORCs, earning our respect, but by three CS points, sadly not a bid. That being said, we’d be remiss not to mention their fall team success. Most schools spend the fall at invitationals here and there, winning some awards, and teaching their freshmen how to do mock trial. This year, Princeton seems to have made a meal of it. Perhaps driven by their scrape with CS, this fall they’ve placed at almost every invitational they’ve attended, including winning both Bryant University and Boston College. We have no doubt they’ll rip through the field in New London.

As almost a bubble within the bubble, we also have several B teams of note. Included on this list are Boston University B and Fordham Rose Hill B. We’ve already said their A teams are good, so how will that extend to their B teams? Last year Fordham RH B excelled at the Princeton regionals, earning an impressive 6-2. Boston University B wasn’t far off, going 5-3, and earning a bid off the Open Bid list. Because good B teams will always see their members snatched away by their A, it’s hard to say how well these teams will do in 2024, but we are of course optimistic.

Rounding out the bubble we have Quinnipiac A, UMass Amherst B, and Williams College A. UMass Amherst B, like our other lovely B teams, sees this spot because of their institution. They have the program knowledge to be able to do well. They’re also joined by Quinnipiac A, who went 6-2 here last year but burned out at ORCs, and Williams A, who went 5-3 in Providence but didn’t see a bid.

Good luck to the new team in this region, the Garnet Chargers of Union College!

Team to Watch: Connecticut College
Now you might be thinking, “MockAnalysisIsMyDrug, Connecticut isn’t a mock trial state!” But believe it or not dear reader, you couldn’t be more wrong. This is a state that can pride itself on more than just NYC commuters, insurance companies, and Yale. This is a state home to a school you may have not heard of, who we expect may have a window to do well, and thus is our Team to Watch for 2024. Connecticut College. A relatively new program, with a Regionals appearance in 2020, nothing in 2021, and then double hosting in 2022 and 2023, they’ll also be hosting the Regional this year as well. While admittedly greener than some of their competitors in New London, the Camels (which we weren’t aware were native to New England) have a record that could offer them a solid springboard into ORCS. In 2022 and 2023 they went 4-4, narrowly missing out on an ORCS bid. Not a negative performance, but certainly not the heights a fresh team would dream of. Coming into 2023, Connecticut went to Capital Clash and placed 2nd at an ending score of 7-1. Admittedly this wasn’t a GAMTI or GCF, but the results still seem indicative of potential Regionals readiness. The Camels also saw their first awards in a while, with Euro Najera and Kate Petrichenko top ranking as an attorney and witness, and Emma Puntin starring as an attorney at Quinnipiac's Bobcat Invitational. Cumulatively this suggests strong upward momentum from Connecticut College. With two years of being just shy of seeing ORCs, 2024 might wind up being their year.



Norman: (20 Teams) ‘Norman Conquest’ (MAIMD Ranking 27/30)
-1 teams in top 50, 2 teams in top 100, 5 teams in top 200

First In:
Rhodes A
Rhodes B

Bubble:
Nebraska A
Oklahoma A
Kansas A
Nebraska B
Missouri State A
Kansas State A

Initial Thoughts:
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Episode V: RHODES STRIKES BACK
It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star (Veda Krumpe) has been destroyed (graduated), Rhodes-ian troops have driven the Rebel mock trial forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the invitational circuit. Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet of a team, a group of freedom fighters led by Oklahoma A has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Norman, Oklahoma. Coach Anna Eldridge, obsessed with finding programs to beat up on, has dispatched two teams into the far reaches of the Midwest…
Even though Rhodes isn’t blowing up planets or lopping off hands, we would imagine that the same level of terror is struck in the hearts of teams matched up against them. Rigidly organized, well-established, and equipped with an army of superb coaches, both teams of Lynxes are the clear favorites in Norman. Rhodes has become an institution at Nationals, save for a blip during the Zoom mock trial era, and have consistently made it out of Regionals. This year, the A and B teams have racked up some serious hardware, with a slew of top invitational finishes for both teams. Although they are perfectly good folks out of round, in round, we wouldn’t be surprised to see some lightning shoot out of Kevin Caltry’s fingertips on his expertly done cross examinations, or to find a double-edged lightsaber in their demo bag.

With Tufts A off meditating in the swamps to ready for battle in Princeton, and Arkansas A defrosting out of carbonite in Arlington, Norman has lost a lot of the star power that prevented Rhodes from force-slamming through the competition last year. Their only hope (or at least the only team that managed to secure a bid here last year) is Oklahoma A. The Sooners have cleaned up at Regionals the past two years, with a 7-1 record in 2022, and a 6-2 record in 2023 where their only lost ballots were to Rhodes A and Tufts A. As a team, OU A competed at Baylor and Texas A&M, taking home first place at both tournaments. Individually, witness Giovanni Russo and attorney Maria Buscemi have steadily stacked up awards over the years, with 2 each this year. Having not made it out of ORCS in recent memory, we anticipate that this team will be ready to storm into any round ready to take the first step to seeking their vengeance in March.

Where things start to get more contentious is the potential for some critical re-match duels from Lawrence’s 2023 Regional. Last year, Kansas State and the University of Kansas both hit at least one Nebraska team, with Nebraska ending up face first in the proverbial pit of lava. The University of Kansas swept Nebraska B, and ended up with a 7-1 record, securing a bid. Kansas State hit both Nebraska A and B, splitting the A team and sweeping the B team, leading them to their bid as well. Odds are good that at least one matchup will repeat itself, but we’re not so sure Nebraska is going to be the one walking away with battle scars this time around, making Nebraska and their potential villain arc our Team to Watch.

With a blue-blood powerhouse up top ready to unceremoniously eradicate their competition just like they have for years, the teams down the list better be ready to pull out every guerilla tactic they can to win pivotal rounds. To all of the teams in Norman– may the force be with you.


Team to Watch: Nebraska A
Last year, we told you Nebraska was a team to watch out for. Then the Lawrence Regionals happened and a robbery to rival the Miller Tower Heist occurred. Nebraska went 5-3, dropping ballots by razor thin margins (-1, -1, -2) in split rounds, and walked out with a CS 8-10 points higher than the 3 bid winners. To quote this last year’s final round: “It wasn’t fair, but it wasn’t their fault.” We have a feeling things will be different this year for the Cornhuskers. For one, they aren’t in Kansas anymore. They won’t have to claw tooth and nail for 1 of 3 bids this year: Norman has been assigned 6. Next, they have proven they can differentiate against teams they are better than. The hardest part about Regionals is that oftentimes rounds get messy, and even if one side is better, they might end up losing the bare knuckle brawl. Although Nebraska hasn’t been dominating the invite season, they’ve been beating teams they are supposed to beat on clear margins. That is arguably the most important skill to have going into Regionals. And finally, they already did well in a pretty similar environment. Bear Brawl hosted a tournament in a pretty similar region with a pretty similar field and Nebraska pulled out a solid 6-2 finish. Of course, the two ballots they dropped were both to Rhodes in what appeared to be an incredibly decisive victory. So will Nevin Butler and the gang make their way to ORCS? This writer is pretty confident they will. The only scenario we can imagine that would stop them would be having the misfortune of facing Rhodes twice. But then again, no one is that unlucky… except for Nebraska.


Spartanburg: (26 Teams) ‘This is Spartanburg’ (MAIMD Ranking 17/30)
-1 teams in top 50, 4 teams in top 100, 7 teams in top 200

First In:
Georgia Tech A

Bubble:
Georgia Tech B
Florida State A
South Carolina B
Duke B
Kennesaw State A
South Carolina C
Duke C
Florida State B
Georgia C
Alabama C

Initial Thoughts:
As much as we love a true underdog story, it would take a Leonidas-like performance to break through the Persian wall of talented and competent bubble teams in the famous Greek stronghold of Spartan-burg, South Carolina.

Atop the slew of Bubble teams all jockeying for Grecian glory are the Seminoles of Florida State who remain, in true Spartan fashion, Unconquered. Although the competitors who won the National Championship for Florida State are now in their 30s, the program streak of getting to ORCS since then remains intact. This may be the biggest challenge to that streak. Early results from this A team at Ramblin Wreck give cause for concern. After losing much talent from last year’s squad, and failing to get two teams through last year, we have to wonder if Florida State has the infantry reserves to get back on the saddle once more. There’s reason to doubt, but if we have to make a call, we think program president and captain Alyssa Yanes, and the talented double threat Makenna Metayer, will likely give this field plenty of reason to still Fear the Spear.

Beyond the Seminoles we look north, to the devils in blue. Specifically, a Duke B team two years removed from the cusp of a national championship final round, and a Duke C team that finished with a winning record against a tough slate at last year's Regionals. Both of the 2024 squads have tested their mettle against good competition. We think this bodes well for the squads featuring senior stalwart Maya Arora, and standout sophomores Haley Geers and Alexandria Thomas. Don’t be surprised to see the Blue Devils celebrate en masse.

And then, there’s the home-state Gamecocks. The B team, led by senior captain Maeve Smith, has run off three consecutive ORCS appearances now - each ending with a record at or above .500. And the C team, this time featuring phenom first-years ​​Steven Carredano and Kobe Lorick, has taken a trophy in two of the last three seasons. The early results suggest a USC (the original one) looking to rebuild its lower ranks, but anyone thinking the Gamecocks will be carried out on their shields can do so at their own peril.

Rounding things out, we have the C teams from UGA and Alabama, each of which deserve their own mention. These lower teams are hard to predict, but invariably talented. UGA C has taken trophies on many occasions, as recently as 2022 at Regionals, and as recently as last month in the Swamp behind standout captains Ashley Rosica and Nicole Poppel. Alabama C, on the other hand, is looking to be the first C team of its program to claim Regionals hardware. We like the early indicators from this squad at Battle of the Bayou, where the Tide battled to impressive results, behind sophomore attorney standout Julienne Pharrams - including a razor-thin round with 8-0 Regionals Champion Tennessee-Chattanooga A.

To those who will dawn their ties, mount their demo stands, and brave the courtrooms in this Regional, we leave you with words of the fateful leader of the 300: “No retreat. No surrender. This is Spartan[burg] law.”

Good luck to the Panthers of LeGrange College A and the Cougars of College of Charleston, first time regionals attendees!

Per the team’s request, we have not written about Georgia Tech.

Team to Watch: Kennesaw State A
Here at MAIMD, we often get asked the same questions over and over again. “What is the secret sauce for getting out of Regionals? Who’s biscuits do I have to butter to get that (now purple) trophy? How do I get a piece of that Regional pie?”. Food puns aside, these are question as old as Johnathan Woodward and have yet to be answered. Our best guess? You have to be perfect and lucky. You need to have the skills to impress and lady fortune on your side for judges, pairings, and any other catastrophes that could arise during regionals. Our Team to Watch seems to have the luck part figured out. Nestled in the small town of Kennesaw, Georgia, the Scrappy Owls (yes that is really their mascot) of Kennesaw State University had quite the unique run last year. Let's take a look back to the 2023 Columbia regionals. The regional itself had been decimated by withdrawals and gave out a total of four bids. Two went to Georgia Tech, one went to Duke and the last bid went to South Carolina C. Now you may be asking, “You said KSU had luck figured out, they literally didn’t bid out of regionals last year? MockAnalysis is stupid and I’m going to make an angry post about it on Facebook” While your inquisitive mind may be correct on KSU’s bidding luck, our analysis focuses on their schedule. KSU finished at regionals with a 6-2 record and a shockingly low CS of 8. KSU had the lucky path of facing 0 teams that finished with more than 3 wins. Lady luck favored the Owls once more as they traveled to Greenville almost two months later with narrow +1 and +3 victories against Georgia Tech and Georgetown University in their A and B brackets. While KSU’s journey ended in the hallowed halls of Furman University with a winning record of 5-3, we now look forward to this year and ask: What has changed? Simply put, we think KSU may be on the cusp of finding that second ingredient to the regionals secret sauce, “Perfection.” The invitational season has shown that KSU has a strong grasp of this case and knows how to use it. With three back to back top 5 finishes at Capital City, the Wildcat Classic, and Crimson Classic, KSU is heading into regionals swinging. Backed by three time award winning witness and attorney, Pranay Nair, and two time award winning witness Rory Manley, we are willing to bet KSU has the luck and the skill it takes to walk out of Spartanburg with a new appreciation for food related puns and a trophy.

Waco: (16 Teams) ‘Texas Royale’ (MAIMD Ranking 20/30)
-2 teams in top 50, 2 teams in top 100, 6 teams in top 200

First In:
Texas A

Bubble:
Baylor A
Houston Christian A
Texas A&M A
Trinity A
Baylor B
Rice A

Initial Thoughts:
Once upon a time in a land far far away (from most relevant tournaments), lies a Regional whose power most resembles a fairytale. In the land of Waco, there’s a small village ruled by a king and queen. Their names, Texas A and Baylor A (we’ll let you pick who’s the king and who’s the queen). Our Nationals returners sit on the throne as easily the top two picks to come out of Waco. They both attended NCT last year, both return All-Americans Josiane Alwarde and Chloe Solis and have both returned this year slaying off dragons left and right in the form of a 6-6 finish at GCF for Texas and 2nd Place at the Green and Gold tournament for Baylor. Thou shalt quiver in fear if the pairings come back and you see either of these royalties appear. But they're not alone, because they’re joined by some cabinet members.

Now this fairytale isn’t all sunshine and rainbows because the royal cabinet is filled with teams trying to steal the crown. Teams like Houston Christian, Texas A&M A and Trinity A might be in the castle for now (as predicted teams to move on) but they might have to duel royalty to keep their spot and we fear these teams might not have the weaponry of the throne. But who knows? Maybe standout competitors like Houston’s Jayla Carmouche or quintuple Outstanding Attorney-awardee William Johnston might prove themselves kingslayers. And if the dukes and duchesses of the Heart of Texas are defeated, who might join the cabinet? Well look no further than the town exiles who take the form of Baylor B, Rice A and Rice B. These teams have shown success in the past, but as exiles usually do, they’ve grown a bit old and their weapons are a bit dull. They haven’t seen ORCS in a bit and while they have the potential to get there this year, they might need to sharpen up their weapons to get there.

And lastly, we have the village. The characters who you see in the background and don’t know their names, don’t have a plot and most importantly, don’t have a spot in the royal castle. This regional provides us 10 teams who haven’t seen ORCS in the past 3 years. With most of them ending between 1-3 wins at regionals last year, we don’t think it’s very likely they get there this year. But then again, anything’s possible with a little bit of faith, trust, and pixie dust. If any break through, look for Texas A&M B, Tulane A or Houston to cause a town rebellion. Will Waco turn into the fairytale? We’ll see soon!

Making their regional debut, we also have the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. We wish them luck!

Team to Watch: Houston
Picture this: it’s February, 2017. Despacito is on the radio, Nick Ramos is still alive, and most importantly— the University of Houston is bidding from regionals. All is good… for the last time. Because Houston… we have a problem. In the past seven years, UH hasn’t once walked up to the AMTA reps in closing ceremonies to claim their bid trophy. In fact, they’ve been in what some would call a “flop era.” The Cougars haven’t only failed to bid since 2017, they haven’t even managed to earn a positive record at Regionals in that time. They’ve come close, earning 4 wins in both the online Regional years. But last year when in-person Regionals returned, so did Houston’s rough results. Between their A and B teams they only took 5.5 ballots, two of which they earned against the bye-bust team. So why is a team who hasn’t been doing well and doesn’t seem to be getting much better our team to watch? It’s their tenacity. This year from October to January UH has made an appearance at each and every local Texan invite. Rain or shine, winning record or not, the Cougars are there. This competition grind is proving to have some results. Early in the season, Houston had a historic first: they went 8-0 and won the Calkins Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa. Since then they’ve also racked up a whole trophy cabinet of individuals awards— 17 in total. Between double threats Katie Newhouse and star four-time awardee Cierra Jackson, the Cougars are looking to put together their best team in years. All of this has led them to finally earn a 5-3 record this January at Texas A&M’s Lady Rev. What’s most impressive about this finish is that it includes a sweep of Houston Christian, one of our bubble teams. While they’re probably not looking to take ballots off of Texas or Baylor, if the Cougars can continue to hold their own against some of our lower bubble teams they might finally make their ORCS return this February.

Wheaton: (26 Teams) ‘Zion National Park’ (MAIMD Ranking 18/30)
-2 teams in top 50, 3 teams in top 100, 8 teams in top 200

First In:
Indiana A
Northwood A

Bubble:
Wheaton A
Chicago C
Illinois B
Loyola B
Wheaton B
Missouri A
Illinois, Chicago A
Notre Dame C
Chicago D

Initial Thoughts:
We have good news for you, readers: at least on paper, Wheaton 2023 was a lot harder than Wheaton 2024 – unless, of course, you have the misfortune to walk into Zion Miller’s well-curated attack team with a bid on the line. Let me explain.

First – there are an additional two bids predicted at Wheaton this year compared to 2023. That will already make the tournament feel less stressful. There’s a big difference between knowing you can place outside of the top five and still bid, and knowing you have to place top four and hit a Nationals team to have a shot. Second – all but one of the teams on this list are strong but not coming off a trip to the NCT. Illinois B, Chicago C, and both Wheaton teams are examples of this. All are from deep, well-coached programs, and all have question marks. How will Wheaton deal with the loss of Melissa McCollum on their A team? Will Chicago be able to bid with their C team, as they have been able to in previous years? Last year, Notre Dame C got the bid that sent its B team to ORCS–after they saw some of those competitors move up to higher teams, will they be able to do that again? Illinois A graduated a lot of seniors last year, and have promoted many former B team members, so how battle tested is their new-look B team? All these questions will be answered come the final weekend of February, and make no mistake: some of these teams will answer definitively and punch their ticket to ORCS.

That said, there are two teams in this field that have left very little doubt in the minds of the AMTA community about their readiness to bid from Wheaton. Northwood A missed Nationals last year, but with their revamped team composition, Austin Wolfe and Gabe Cerda taking home tiny gavels like their life depends on it, and the keen, watchful eye of DeLois Leaphart keeping things on track we expect them to bid, at least from Regionals. That leaves us, of course, with Indiana A. Indiana A has a stellar resume: they placed 8th at 2023 NCT, 10th at 2023 GAMTI, and have a roster that should be terrifying to even the strongest teams that hit them. All Americans Ana Gaston and Adelaide Young Brust (who also picked up a GAMTI award this year) will lead this team into Wheaton determined to run the table. They’ve also got All-National Madison Rossillo and GCF awardee Isabella Arnold on the roster, and while they might not have had the April their fellow teammates did, they’re no less dangerous. Some (us, now) have said they mock like the second coming of Sarah Stebbins and Allison Durkin, respectively. We’re not just saying this because Zion Miller lives in our walls (even though he does). Indiana A is a fiercely competitive, smart, and creative mock trial team. Hopefully, at the end of that final weekend in February, it’ll be a good day to be a Hoosier – and there will be five lucky teams standing alongside them.

Team to Watch: Wheaton A
Wheaton's got a pattern established: just when people start to count them out, they're back and making a dangerously legitimate run for Nats. Over the twelve years of their program's existence, the question has never been "will Wheaton be NCT caliber again", the question is when. Because in those twelve years they've sent teams to the championship six times, and if their recent three-year cycle holds up (qualifying teams in 2018 and 2021) they're primed to add another.

But this is a Regionals team to watch, and here's why: they sit right at the top of our bubble, with history on their side but this years' results showing some uncertainty. Since their founding, Wheaton has never missed qualifying at least one team to ORCS. And all but one of those ORCS appearances were earned off their A team's bid. Some of their placements this year reflect that consistency–a 6-2 showing at Mid-Missouri indicates they know how to pick up cleanly against the type of teams they'll see at Regionals. But the fields they faced at Cornshucker and Hoosier Hoedown, where they posted 3-5 and 4.5-3.5 results respectively, aren't too far off a potential Regionals schedule either, and with this Regional in particular they can't bank on easy draws. Fortunately, this year's Wheaton A is likable and competent, made up of anchoring bench members with a lot of technical strength like Hudson Grove and Maryn Davis as well as the occasional double threat (Faith Hollister won Iowa's famous Double Shot award). They'll play well in the Midwest (and on their home turf), bring cookies everywhere they go, and as long as they can avoid clashing with the terror that is Indiana A, we expect to see them extend both Wheaton's ORCS streak and their season.

Quinnipiac as a bubble team seems generous, their 6-2 run was great for the club and sent them to orcs for the first time in 3 years, but they lost 6 members from that roster to graduation.