This past weekend, the Washburn “Trialin’ Bods” Mock Trial team attended the Mid-Missouri Mock Trial Invitational tournament hosted by Columbia College. Washburn competed against teams from Rhodes, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Northwest Missouri State University, the University of Central Missouri as well as the host school, and fared well, capturing both the second and third place titles.

Our second place team, captained by Jane Billinger and Nic Campbell and including Amy Molina, Marcie Hartwig, Alosha Moore and Lucy Hesse, did very well, ending the tournament with a 5-2-1 record. Along the way, Marcie Hartwig won a coveted Outstanding Witness award, and Jane Billinger won her own individual award—an Outstanding Attorney award for her perfect 20 out of 20 rank performance!

Our 3^rd place team, captained by Eli Woody and Brea Short, and including Gabrielle Ilaria, Darris Hawks, Lukas Utz, Colin Shaw, and Dalton Gillum, placed just behind our other team with a 5-3 record. And this team was also successful in capturing individual awards: Dalton Gillum won his first individual award of his collegiate mock trial career for Outstanding Witness, while Brea Short won another Outstanding Attorney award.

Up next is a trip to Omaha, Nebraska this coming weekend where our teams will compete in the annual “Bluejay Invitational” hosted by Creighton University. Please wish us luck, and join me in once again congratulating our outstanding Bods on their hard-won successes.