National powers are never supposed to just be happy to be there. But members of the Furman mock trial team, despite being ranked 11th in the country, won\u2019t lie: They\u2019re just happy to be there.<\/p>\n
The Paladins conquered a tough field\u2014and looming external pressure\u2014at the American Mock Trial Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS) Tournament held March 11-13 in Decatur, Ga., to earn a coveted spot in next month\u2019s Bell Tower National Championship in Greenville.<\/p>\n
Not only was Furman\u2019s streak of 19 consecutive trips to nationals on the line, but also if one of the two Paladin teams in Decatur hadn\u2019t finished in the top six the University would have not been allowed to compete in the event it is hosting for the first time. Furman Team A rolled through the competition, however, piling up six wins, one tie and a single loss to finish in a tie for second with Georgia Tech\u2014a half point behind Duke.<\/p>\n
Team B just missed advancing as well with four wins, one tie and three losses. Overall, Furman qualified four teams for the ORCS after strong performances at a pair of regionals in early February, but were only allowed to send two.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am exceptionally proud of our A team\u2019s effort to earn Furman\u2019s 20th consecutive bid to the national championships. What an accomplishment from a remarkable group of young people and coaches,\u201d Furman Political Science Professor and Mock Trial Team Director Glen Halva-Neubauer, Ph.D., said. \u201cBut I also want to make sure that our B team\u2019s efforts are noted.\u00a0 That team had a bit of bad luck along the way which led to it not qualifying for the Bell Tower, but you would have never known this was the case when it took on Duke\u2019s B team in the final round and did so well against the Blue Devils that it knocked\u00a0Duke B out of the Big Dance when most thought it was a shoo-in for the Bell Tower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Furman was awarded the competition, Halva-Neubauer has worked countless hours raising the money and organizing the daunting logistics required to bring a thousand people to the smallest city to ever host the tournament. But nothing has caused him more stress than the prospect of Furman not getting to compete in the competition. Nathan Thompson \u201916, co-captain Julia Reynolds \u201917, and their teammates have toiled in that shadow since September.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust wanting to make sure that we deliver and actually get a team through to the tournament was giving us a significant amount of stress,\u201d Thompson admitted, \u201cand so from that perspective we\u2019re just really glad to have that weight off of our shoulders to know that we\u2019re going to have a chance to compete on home turf and represent our university at the tournament that we\u2019re hosting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six wins at the ORCS are a guarantee of advancing, but Furman was two short entering the final day. That only motivated the Paladins to work even harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cJulia and I pulled an all-nighter prepping for that last case. We stayed up until 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning and woke up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready to go to trial,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cAnd then we went in and hit a talented Pittsburgh team but were lucky to come away with two wins and a trip to the national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lack of sleep didn\u2019t prevent Thompson from earning an Outstanding Witness Award along with teammates Kaitlyn Pugh \u201917 and John Gillespie \u201918. The students spent spring break on campus practicing for Decatur, which Thompson considers a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stayed on campus for the whole week because our tournament was the last weekend of spring break, so we got to hang out and spend time together, which we don\u2019t always have a lot of time to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it really helped with camaraderie and team spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Furman turns its sights toward something it has never done: Winning a national championship. Despite the Paladins reign from 2000-2009 as the team with the best overall record, the school\u2019s best showing was in 2002\u2014placing second in their half of the 48 team bracket. Thompson hopes competing on familiar turf will help put the team over the top.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will be the first and last time for anyone currently in the program to compete for a national title with home-field advantage, so we\u2019re looking forward to that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really do see this as an opportunity where we\u2019re familiar with the judging style, especially in South Carolina because our coaches are South Carolina attorneys and they\u2019re familiar with how things work here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brad Rustin, IV \u201903, a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in Greenville, works just as hard as the current team members as a volunteer coach. The national tournament, he says, brings out the best schools and exposes the weakest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest difference in nationals\u2014and I hate to say this because it sounds somewhat trite\u2014is there\u2019s nowhere to hide. It is the 48 best teams in the nation \u2026 Every single round you\u2019re going to be going against a team that is a similar level of talent to your team, and it becomes much more of a focus on the slightest nuances, and one mistake can cost you the national championship,\u201d Rustin said. \u201cIt forces everyone on your team to pull together, because if one person doesn\u2019t put the score on the board then you don\u2019t win the national championships.\u201d<\/p>\n
As if the pressure of a national title was not enough, the final tournament features a brand new scenario that teams are given barely four weeks to prepare for.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine 48 of the most gifted teams of eight people in the country being given four weeks to come up with every single nasty, evil thing they can pull out of a case and throw at you. And you will never have heard it, and you\u2019re going to deal with it on the fly in front of a panel of lawyers who are judging how you respond and what your response will be,\u201d Rustin said. \u201cThat\u2019s what they\u2019ve got to be ready for, and that makes the national championships a different animal: You can\u2019t script it.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Koysza \u201901, a veteran of the mock trial team (1997-2001) and now regional counsel for Boeing Canada and Latin America, says people shouldn\u2019t overlook the University’s accomplishments advancing to the big stage for two straight decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams have become more and more sophisticated. The competition has gotten better,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd as a result, every year that Furman makes the national championship is an even bigger accomplishment than the year before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remarkably, the team is comprised primarily of underclassmen\u2014Thompson is joined by only one other senior on the team, Jonathan Kubakundimana. Reynolds is the only junior. In spite of their age, every person competing this time around also competed in nationals last year, which makes Furman an unusual combination of youth and experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year we finished seventh in our bracket and didn\u2019t graduate a single person who competed at that national tournament,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time because we have a very competitive team and a very young team, so the future is bright as well as the present.<\/p>\n