Monday, January 19, 2009

Patrick Henry College Dominates Moot Court Nationals


After two years of not winning the Moot Court National Tournament, the Patrick Henry College Moot Court team won it again, and dominated Moot Court all year long.  

In the American Collegiate Moot Court Association, schools are not allowed to send any more than 8 teams to the national tournament.  This was a difficulty for Patrick Henry College since in the four regional tournaments, PHC won 1st place speaker in all of them, won first place team in three of the tournaments, and ended up qualifying 14 teams to nationals.  No other school in this league qualified more than 8 teams for the national tournament this year.

Coaches Dr. Farris, and Dr. Guliuzza had the difficult task of choosing who would represent PHC at the national tournament.  
Guliuzza and Dr. Michael Farris (PHC Chancellor), made their final pick based on students’ comparative performances at the qualifying tournaments. In no particular order, the final, eight-team roster selected to attend the national tournament are: Rachel Heflin, Aidan Grano, James Mieding, Robert Kelly, Brianna Edelblut, Joseph Alm, Aaron Kamakawiwoole, Joshua Kamakawiwoole, Evan Mantel, John Miller, Jenna Lorence, Paul Sellers, Rachel Blum, Noah Oberlander, Carmen Pettus, and Ben Sayre. 
After dominating the regional tournaments Patrick Henry College did the same at the national tournament.  Seven of our eight teams broke into elimination rounds.  Four of the eight teams in the quarter final rounds were from PHC, the semifinal round included three PHC teams, and the final round was comprised of two PHC teams.  In a rematch of the Fitchburg tournament Aidan Grano and Rachel Heflin defeated Joey Alm and Brianna Edelblut to becoME the new national moot court champions.  Robert Kelly and James Mieding placed third as PHC took 1st 2nd and 3rd at the tournament.

Patrick Henry College also won in other awards categories.  PHC took five of the top ten speakers including Aidan Grano winning 1st place speaker.  Rachel Blum and Noah Oberlander's brief won 3rd place petitioner brief, and Aaron and Joshua Kamakawiwoole won 1st place respondent brief as PHC took first, second, and third in that category.

Congratulations to the PHC Moot Court Team, and to Dr. Farris an Dr. Guliuzza.  With much of the team returning next year, and a lot of good people potentially joining next year, maybe we can repeat this success next year.

2 comments:

Centaur said...

It would be cool if we could "make a movie," in a sense: if we take 1st, 2nd, and 3rd next year, we can make the statement in "Come What May" reality, instead of hyperbole.

Anyway, it's all in the Lord's hands - which is where we want it. 8-D

Nerdette said...

W00t! Go PHC!

Hehe, nice point Centaur ;-).