Next Year's Names to Know - Midwest Mock (and beyond)

Who should we of the great lakes and prairies be on the lookout for heading into next season?
For me, the following names come to mind:
Alex Nelson (Cornell)
Taiya Tkachuk/Toby Giganti (Illinois)
Dylan Cole (ND)
Ryan Wolak/Heidi Strigenz (Creighton)
Mac Newton (Mizzou)
Claire Bullington (Wheaton)
Ellie Hoeper (Iowa)
Dorian DeBose (WashU)
Sanjeev Viswan (NIU)
Josh Ezrol/Abigail Sutter (NW)
Max Popkin (Mac)
Libby Rohr/Anna Stoneman(Chicago)
Josh Melton (LUC)
...among others- these are just the names for teams we went against, or particularly notable mockers I've heard about through the grapevine.

If you cover a different region and want to participate - feel free to post the rising stars of your sector of the country here as well.

Northwestern, in general, appears to have a lot of freshmen and sophomore with major potential for growth. They've set themselves up for one of the deepest programs in the country, in my opinion.

NU has a bunch of super talented people to watch. Kyle Lewis and Liz Curtis (their b team captains) are really strong. Their b team also has a freshman opener (Tahj Burnett) who is incredibly talented for a freshman. Plus they return Ruby Scanlon from their A team, who won a bunch of awards at top invites this year.

As for the rest of the list, I can confirm that some of these people are really good, although some (like Mac Newton) I believe are graduating. Tanya Tkachuk in particular deserves a shoutout -- she's a really good witness, capable of playing both characters and party witnesses.

To closethedoor19, do you have some basic rationale for the names on this list? Curious as to what you've actually seen or heard, especially since teams like Creighton have been generally ignored until recently.

Some of them were easy- saw Alex Nelson in trial, and his reputation is correctly earned. He is the heir apparent at Cornell that will have them back at Nationals in the near future (assuming he isn't graduating- again, I'm not positive).
In the case of Creighton, we hit their defense, and well... more people should know about them.
As for the other ones, it's some people who have won a few awards, or people I've competed against who specifically stood out- usually a presence thing. I'm not entirely sure about the ages/years of all the people on here, but I basically guessed based on who I haven't seen more than once or twice. Consulted a few people I know from other programs who gave me the names of some of the people on power teams that we didn't see this year (Chicago/NW) but otherwise it's mostly personal experience and awards won. That's sorta why I wanted to open it up to the community to see what names I'm missing or who we might be overlooking as a community. I don't think teams like Macalester, Creighton or Mizzou get nearly as much love from the mock community as they deserve- and they were all a half or full ballot away from a Nationals bid this year.

Can confirm, Max Popkin is really good

Haven't heard much in particular about Claire Bullington (Wheaton), Sanjeev Viswan (NIU), or Josh Melton (LUC) beyond tab summaries. Has anyone on the forum seen them in trial?

I've seen Melton. He's legit -- very smooth, confident, good crosser.

Sanjeev is a class act.

I recognize a lot of the names on here and agree with many of them! One program that I didn't see mentioned, and one that has been really climbing and turning into a powerhouse over the last few years is Minnesota. They have a slew of young attorneys and witnesses who are going to make a splash next year and beyond. A name that has already appeared on a tab summary is Noah Thompson (double attorney at St. Paul Regionals) and several others who haven't been able to break out and win an award just yet. While Minnesota didn't have many new attorneys break onto tab summaries this season, I expect to see many of them show up moving forward into next season.

I saw Dylan Cole when we went against ND C at regionals. He was legit, looks to have a very high ceiling. I do have to say that ND and Northwestern appear to have an extremely deep class of freshmen -- ND C was overwhelmingly freshmen when we saw them, and they were by no means a bad team.

Might be a little biased here, but one of my kids from GCU, Joseph Yezbak is insane. I saw him hit U of A, Colorado College and University of Colorado as a dual threat attorney. He won one award and was one ranking away from winning a second one as a freshmen. Watch for him next year.

Notre Dame seems to have really strong underclassmen. ND C was almost completely freshmen and went 5-3 at regionals. ND A's rookie Caroline Kranick got 19 ranks as a witness at Geneva. Aside from their A Team's bid, their B Team got 7th place. Only three of their members stood to be recognized as seniors at ORCS, so it seems that their program will be in competent hands next year.

ButItActuallyUpdates wrote:Haven't heard much in particular about Claire Bullington (Wheaton), Sanjeev Viswan (NIU), or Josh Melton (LUC) beyond tab summaries. Has anyone on the forum seen them in trial?

Haven’t seen Viswan but I’ve heard great things. Can confirm Melton is a real threat. Can confirm Bullington is outstanding. A fantastic opener and crosser.

Viswan is fantastic. He has a really good presence and strong command of evidence for a freshman, and he's easily going toe-to-toe with my seniors and fifth-years. I'm expecting to see him as the next Sydney Gaskins.

Sanjeev has been fantastic in the courtroom since high school, and clearly he hasn't lost any of that skill in college. Abigail Sutter has also been extraordinary, although I haven't had the chance to hit her team myself yet.