UGA Places 3rd in Nation Out of 633 Teams!
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4.18.11 UGA Mock Trial finished 3rd in the nation out of 633 teams that started the year, tying for the best record at this year's National Championship Tournament in Des Moines, IA. The Bulldogs barely missed out on the championship round in a tie-breaker with the eventual national champion, UCLA.
Statistically speaking, the victory is equivalent to winning a BCS National Championship in football, and puts UGA in the top 99.5 percent of Mock Trial teams nationally. 6,000 undergraduates participate in collegiate Mock Trial, representing 633 teams from 300 universities. UGA placed above every Ivy League school, and finished behind only UCLA and NYU.
The trip was made possible through the generous support of UGA's Honors Program and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.
UGA finished tied for 1st with UCLA, a three-time national champ, in their 24-team division. UCLA's opponents had half a win more than UGA's (17.5 to 17), breaking the tie between the two teams and sending UCLA to the finals. NYU, last year's national champion, won the other division, followed by the University of Chicago.
UGA won rounds against Tufts, Georgetown, and UC Santa Cruz. Their only loss was to Harvard, by -2, -4. UGA ended the weekend with the largest single ballot win (+28), the largest single round win (+35), and the largest margin of victory over all four rounds (+74) of any team in the 48-team tournament.
The team has been an underdog for most of the year, placing 81st in the country just two years ago, and improving to 27th last year. This was only the second year that UGA has qualified for the National Championship Tournament.
UGA's Mock Trial program differs from the vast majority of teams in the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) in that it has no coach, instead utilizing the team's 55 undergrads to fill all leadership and training roles.
Qualifying for the National Championship was a long and difficult process. UGA had to advance through regionals and an opening round of nationals before earning the right to compete among the top teams in the country in Des Moines. UGA's teams have competed in 13 tournaments since October, winning 13 team awards and 23 individual awards.
Competing on A Team 1134, which finished 3rd in the nation, were: Brian Mink (Captain, '11), Ethan Treacy (Captain, '12), Alana Driscoll ('11), Veronica Evans ('13), Alex Galvan ('11), Lauren Lutton ('13), Vera Maladtsova ('12), and Michelle Pope ('11).
