Baylor Undergraduates "Sweep" Mock Trial Regional Contest

by Alan Hunt

Members of Baylor University's Undergraduate Mock Trial team "swept the board" at the regional competition of the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) held during the weekend in Birmingham, Ala.
The Baylor students won all four rounds of the contest, which attracted 23 teams from schools in Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The Baylor team now qualifies for the national championship to be held April 7-10 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Representing Baylor were team captain Will Hueske, Sorana Ban (who also won the best witness award), Ryan Kreck, Ashley Stewart, Taylor Norwood, Elizabeth Le Coney, and Nora Farah. Team coach was Heather A. Creed, a Baylor law graduate and director of student relations at Baylor Law School, who also serves as faculty advisor to the Baylor Undergraduate Mock Trial organization. Second-year Baylor law student Susan Duesler also assisted in the coaching. Creed said Baylor Law School helped to sponsor the students' participation in the contest.
"We're all very excited and I am very proud of the students," Creed said. "This was the first time they have competed in the AMTA contest. There were 23 teams, and over the course of four rounds, we didn't lose a ballot."
Baylor Undergraduate Mock Trial became an officially chartered student organization in the fall of 2003, Creed said. In November last year, the organization hosted an invitational mock trial tournament, the Green and Gold Invitational, which attracted a number of teams from all over Texas and out of state. Creed said students from any area of study can certainly benefit from the public speaking and critical thinking skills that are developed and sharpened through mock trial. "The legal knowledge that students acquire through competition will undoubtedly serve them in any profession," she said.
For more information about the Baylor Undergraduate Mock Trial organization, call Creed at 710-7617.