St. John's News

St. John's Mock Trial Team Takes Third at Atlantic Regional, Advances to National Intermediate Round

February 26, 2008

Queens, N.Y. -

The St. John’s University Mock Trial Team earned a bid to the National Round of 2008 National Intercollegiate Mock Trial Tournament after finishing third at the Atlantic Regional held on the University’s Queens campus February 23-25.  St. John’s Squad A will travel to Tucson, AZ on March 14-16 for the Intermediate Round, where the top five teams advance to the National Finals. 

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Sophomore Matthew Knotts (St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) finished the weekend as the second-highest rated attorney for the tournament, receiving 19-of-20 possible points awarded.  Also competing on Squad A for St. John’s were Kudakwashe Chibanda (junior, Peter J. Tobin College of Business); Jomaire Crawford (junior, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); Michelle Ng (sophomore, College of Professional Studies); Hadia Ali Sheerazi (sophomore, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); Ronald Sylvestre, Jr. (junior, College of Professional Studies) and Genevieve Trigg (senior, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences). 

With four teams tied at 6-2, a tiebreaking formula determined the final positions and had Princeton edging out St. John’s for the second place spot and the second of two automatic bids to the National Championship Finals.  New York University took top honors and will also advance to the National Championship Finals, scheduled for April 5-6 in Minneapolis.   Columbia finished fourth and two teams from Fordham rounded out the top six and will also move on to the intermediate rounds. 

St. John’s Squad B, comprised of mostly rookies, finished 3-5 overall and opened up the weekend with an upset win over the University of Pennsylvania in the first round. 

Please visit the American Mock Trial Assocation website for detailed information.