The University of St. Thomas Mock Trial program made history over the weekend. Not only did the program host the 2019 Houston Regional, but both teams in the program earned bids for the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) for the first time.

This is the fourth year in a row that UST Mock Trial earned at least one bid out of the Regional level. After this weekend, UST now joins only 50 others in the country that will send multiple teams to ORCS.

Hosting the 2019 Houston Regional Tournament

Across the country, only 30 schools hosted an American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) Regional Tournament this year. In total, 23 teams from throughout the region (including Baylor University, Rice University, Southern Methodist University and Houston Baptist University, among others) competed in the Houston Regional.

Each of the teams competed in four separate rounds spanning three days from Feb. 22-24. The tournament was held on campus at UST in the classrooms of O’Rourke, Strake and Anderson.

“We had multiple judges come up and say how impressed they were with our students,” Paul Hubbell, head coach and tournament director, said.

Only eight teams made it out of the Houston Regional. UST’s two teams won rounds against schools such as the University of Texas-Austin, Texas A&M University, Louisiana State University and Tulane University.

In addition, three UST members received individual awards: seniors Marisol Granados and Anita Creech were awarded Best Attorneys and freshman Nicolas D’Amelio Best Witness.

Progressing to ORCS

Other teams that made it out of the Houston Regional come from the University of Alabama, UT-Austin, Baylor and HBU. They will join the two UST teams at the Memphis ORCS from March 15-17. From the six ORCS held across the country, 48 out of 198 teams will progress to compete at the 35th AMTA National Championship Tournament in Philadelphia.

“It’s an unusual situation for us because we have so much depth in our program compared to previous years,” Hubbell said. “In years past, our season would have been done, but now we have so many different chances to qualify. This is our year.”

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Story by Katie Fleming