Howard Payne University wins Texas A&M School of Law Regional; Texas A&M takes Top Speaker
The Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association hosts two regional tournaments every year: one at the Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, and another at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock. Undergraduate moot court competitors are only allowed to compete at one regional tournament every season, and those who do well enough win a bid to compete at the AMCA National Tournament in January.
The performance at the Texas A&M School of Law Regional was outstanding, and TUMCA wishes a big congratulations to all of our competitors who won a slot to compete at the National Tournament. The Texas A&M School of Law Regional, also known as the South Texas Regional, consisted of competitors from University of Texas - Dallas, University of Louisiana - Lafayette, Howard Payne University, Texas A&M University, United States Air Force Academy, Texas Christian University, Baylor University, University of Texas - Arlington, University of Dallas, Sam Houston State University, University of North Texas, and University of Texas - San Antonio.
In a tough tournament with 30 exceptional TUMCA teams, Rebeca Puente and Isaac Sommers from Howard Payne University made it to the final round and became the new TUMCA South Texas Regional Champions. Also to make it to the final round was Sara Fishbein and James Hanley from the United States Air Force Academy (previous champions of the UNT Dallas College of Law Invitational).
Tournament Champions (right) and Tournament Finalists (left):
At the tournament, speaker awards were given to the top 15 orators on the first day of the competition. Listed below are the speaker awards, with Juan Luna from Texas A&M University taking top place.
1. Juan Luna - Texas A&M University
2. Kevin Kim - United States Air Force Academy
3. Isaac Sommers - Howard Payne University
4. Sannika Reddy - Texas A&M University
5. Lakshmi Achari - Texas A&M University
6. Rebeca Puente - Howard Payne University
7. Hannah Vecseri - Baylor University
8. Caitlin Wood - Howard Payne University
9. Marcos DeHoyos - Texas A&M University
10. Memona Niazi - Baylor University
11. Sara Fishbein - United States Air Force Academy
12. Cameron Pontiff - University of Louisiana - Lafayette
13. Zari Brown - University of Texas - Arlington
14. Mark Mallory - University of Louisiana - Lafayette
15. Derek Tallent - University of Texas - Dallas
On the second day of the tournament, 16 teams advanced. Listed below are the Round of 16 finalists, quarter-finalists, and semi-finalists.
Round of 16:
Juan Luna and Lakshmi Achari - Texas A&M University
Aaron Lozano and Jessica Browning - Texas A&M University
Hannah Wallace and Morgan Williams - Texas Christian University
Derek Tallent and Dalton Owens - University of Texas - Dallas
Zachary Boullt and Anastasia Zaluckyj - University of Texas - Dallas
Mark Mallory and Ashley Fisher - University of Louisiana - Lafayette
Mia Tolliver and Blacin Doucet - University of Louisiana - Lafayette
Katherine Read and Cameron Pontiff - University of Louisiana - Lafayette
Quarter-Finalists:
Jackson Spencer and Caitlin Wood - Howard Payne University
Sannika Reddy and Marcos DeHoyos - Texas A&M University
Ana Gonzalez and Zari Brown - University of Texas - Arlington
Christina Lanier and Harjeen Zibari - University of Texas - Dallas
Semi-Finalists:
Kevin Kim and Colleen Slein - United States Air Force Academy
Shalanda Plowden and Kristopher Harrison - University of Louisiana - Lafayette
For all tournament results, team rankings and speaker rankings, you can visit our tournaments page. To see more photos from each tournament, you can visit our gallery page. If you'd like to find out more about how you can get involved with TUMCA Moot Court, please contact tumca2016@gmail.com. If you'd like to get in touch with coaches from a specific school, please visit our coaches page.