17 National Teams, 6 Top Orators, and 3 Appellate Brief Awards all from 1 Region: TUMCA.
Every year, the American National Moot Court Association hosts a national moot court tournament for qualifying undergraduates around the country. Although a total of about 350 teams compete each year for a chance to go to nationals, only 80 slots are available at the AMCA National Tournament.
TUMCA is the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association, but it consists of all teams in the southern region including teams from Colorado and Arkansas. TUMCA takes great pride in its regional cohesion and sportsmanship, and TUMCA is proud to see any of its regional teams succeed. For this reason, TUMCA would like to recognize the achievements of the seventeen teams affiliated with TUMCA who attended the AMCA National Tournament this year at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, FL.
We'd like to first send a congratulations from the TUMCA family to all teams who competed at the national competition, which is a success in of itself. These honorable seventeen are:
1. Reagan Williams and Andrew McJunkin from Arkansas State University
2. Julie Nelson and Rebekah Mercer from Baylor University
3. Emily Volk and Ashley Dyer from Baylor University
4. Kirsten Koschnick and Thatcher Townson from Baylor University
5. Rebeca Puente and Isaac Sommers from Howard Payne University
6. Jackson Spencer and Caitlin Wood from Howard Payne University
7. Joseph Hartman and Marcos DeHoyos from Texas A&M University
8. Kevin Kim and Colleen Slein from United States Air Force Academy
9. Dana Call and Andrew Resweber from United States Air Force Academy
10. Jenna True and David Elletson from United States Air Force Academy
11. Sara Fishbein and James Hanley from United States Air Force Academy
12. Alexandra Vance and Alec Hubbard from United States Air Force Academy
13. Shalanda Plowden and Kris Harrison from University of Louisiana - Lafayette
14. Brenton Browne and Kristen DeWilde from the University of North Texas
15. Josue Barron and David Klein from the University of North Texas
16. Ana Gonzalez and Zari Brown from University of Texas - Arlington
17. Hope Steffensen and Nancy Fairbank from University of Texas - Dallas
Moving into awards, there are three ways to gain national recognition at the AMCA National Tournament. Competitors can receive awards by their individual orator score, their team performance during oral arguments, and their possible submission to the national brief-writing competition.
AMCA recognizes the Top National 25 Orators and gives awards to the Top National 10 Orators. TUMCA competitors took six of those national orator titles as follows:
Top 10
#5 - Isaac Sommers from HPU
#8 - Kevin Kim from USAFA
#9 - Kristen DeWilde from UNT
#10 - David Elletson from USAFA
Top 25
#22 - Josue Barron from UNT
#23 - Jenna True from USAFA
Next, AMCA gives awards to the top ten briefs submitted for Petitioner and the top ten briefs submitted for Respondent. TUMCA competitors took three of those national brief titles on side of Petitioner:
Top Petitioner Briefs
#6 - Justin Harris and Bailey Myler from HPU
#7 - Rebeca Puente and Isaac Sommers from HPU
#9 - Alec Hubbard and Alexandra Vance from USAFA
Last, awards are given to those who advance in their team oral argument performance. The first major hurdle for those competing is to make it to out-rounds on the second day of the tournament. Next, competitors try to advance through the round of 32, the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals. We'd like to recognize each team that advanced to the second day.
Making it all the way to the Finals round, a huge congratulations goes to the National Runner-Up: Kevin Kim and Colleen Slein from the United States Air Force Academy! Advancing to the Finals Round at any moot court competition is difficult, but advancing to the Finals Round at the AMCA National Tournament is a rarity. Their performance was outstanding. The AMCA Finals Round can be viewed here.
Sweet Sixteen
Rebecca Puenta and Isaac Summers from HPU
Dana Call and Andrew Resweber from USAFA
Hope Steffensen and Nancy Fairbank from UTD
Thrilling 32
Julie Nelson and Rebekah Mercer from Baylor
Emily Volk and Ashley Dyer from Baylor
Advanced to Out Rounds
Reagan Williams and Andrew McJunkin from ASU
Jenna True and David Elletson from USAFA
Sara Fishbein and James Hanley from USAFA
Alexandra Vance and Alec Hubbard from USAFA
Shalanda Plowden and Kris Harrison from ULL
Brenton Browne and Kristen DeWilde from UNT
To see photos from the national 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.