March 18, 2008
Kudakwashe Chibanda and Jomaire Crawford Earn Top
Awards
Kudakwashe Chibanda was named an Outstanding Attorney and
Jomaire Crawford was named an Outstanding Witness after helping St.
John’s University to an eighth place finish at the 2008 Desert
Classic AMTA Silver National Qualifying Tournament in Tucson, AZ on
March 15-16.
Chibanda (junior, Peter J. Tobin College of Business), who is a
co-caption on the St. John’s squad, received one of only 10
Outstanding Attorney awards by scoring 19 out of 20 possible
points, while Crawford (junior, St. John’s College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences) also garnered 19 out of 20 points en route to being
named one of ten Outstanding Witnesses for her role at the National
Tournament.
As a team, St. John’s beat out several squads from around the
Nation including Fordham, Gonzaga and Boston College to finish 5-3
overall for the weekend. Stanford University’s Squad A
(7-0-1) and Squad B (7-1) took first and second place,
respectively, and Weber State rounded out the top three with a 6-2
record. The top three teams will advance to the National
Championship in Minneapolis on April 4-6.
In addition to St. John’s, the field at the Desert Classic
consisted of teams from: Arizona State University, Boston College,
Brown University, California State Polytechnic University,
California State University, Fresno, Claremont McKenna College,
College of the Holy Cross, Columbia University, Dartmouth College,
Fordham University, Gonzaga University, Reed College, Siena
College, Stanford University, University of California – Santa
Barbara, University of Redlands, University of Southern California,
University of Rochester, The United States Air Force Academy,
Washington State University and Weber State University.
St. John’s earned its place at the National Qualifying
Tournament after finishing third at the Atlantic Regionals in late
February and was one of only two teams from the East to finish in
the top-ten in the National round. The 2008 season ends with
St. John’s placing at all levels of competition including a 10th
place finish at Columbia University’s Big Apple Invitational and
the team’s impressive Third place finish at the Atlantic Regional
Competition, which was hosted by St. John’s on February 22-23.
The St. John’s University Mock Trial Team is coached by
Professor Bernard Helldorfer, Professor Oscar Holt and Professor
Kareem Vessup. For additional information about the Mock
Trial Team at St. John’s University, please contact Professor
Bernard Helldorfer at (718) 990-7417.