UTampa mock trial B team at AMTA’s Charlotte regional. Photo courtesy of Luca Weick.
UTampa’s mock trial B team traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, to compete in a regional competition and won more ballots than any B team in school history. Magdalena Blatchely and Julian Provenzano both won awards for their outstanding portrayals as a witness and an attorney, respectively.
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By Marissa Johnson
TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Tampa’s (UTampa) mock trial “B” team traveled to Charlotte, North Carolina, Feb. 13–15 to compete in an American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) regional competition. Overall, they won more ballots than any B team in school history.
The team arrived in Charlotte on Friday, Feb. 13, to finish last-minute preparations and ensure all of their supplies and documents were in order. Having scrimmaged against mock trial teams from Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida International University the previous weekend, and having participated in several in-house scrimmages during the week in between, the team was feeling prepared and ready for the competition.
Opening ceremonies for the competition began at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 14, with round one of the competition directly following. Round one saw UTampa’s prosecution team facing Davidson College’s defense. Later the same day, in round two, UTampa’s defense team faced Elon University’s prosecution.
Both round 1 and round 2 went well for UTampa, and the team “celebrated” that night by practicing their material again. The B team was feeling encouraged going into the second day of competition.
On Sunday, round three commenced, with UTampa’s defense going against Patrick Henry College’s prosecution at 8 a.m. That afternoon, UTampa’s prosecution faced Wake Forest University’s defense in the competition’s final round.
Over the course of the four rounds, the team won a total of three ballots. At the closing awards ceremony, two members won awards.
The first was Magdalena “Maggie” Blatchely, a sophomore double major in international business and marketing, who won for her outstanding performance playing the expert witness role of Dr. Atlas Hartley. She won a total of 16 ranks as a prosecution witness while doubling as an attorney on defense.
“My favorite part was being able to bond with my team, and being able to practice skills that apply in the real world, like public speaking,” said Blatchely. “I’m excited to be able to represent our school all the way up in North Carolina.”
Trinity Smith, a freshman forensic science major and B team co-captain, said about Blatchely’s performance, “I’m really proud of her. Over the past couple of months, I’ve really seen her put in a lot of work and a lot of dedication, especially outside of when we planned to practice.”
Smith, also a defense attorney and prosecution witness, explained that Blatchely is “very deserving of this,” and that Smith believes “this [sets] a good example for future members.”
“My favorite part about regionals was getting to come out here and spend time with my amazing teammates,” Smith continued. “I feel like we were able to bond, and really reflect the amount of practice we put in, prior to the competition.” She added that she was excited for future competitions as well.
The second UTampa award recipient was Julian Provenzano, a junior criminal justice major, who was awarded for his outstanding job as a prosecution attorney. He won a total of 18 ranks.
In speaking about Provenzano’s performance, Stefano Marcantoni, junior criminology major and defense attorney, said, “I am so proud of Julian. He put in countless hours of hard work and dedication, and he was rewarded for it. He deserved every rank he got.”
Marcantoni also said it was his first competition, giving a “closing [statement] for the defense, or just [a closing statement] in general,” and that “it definitely allowed [him] to jump way out of [his] comfort zone.” Overall, he said, “I’m really happy with how it all turned out.”
Luca Weik, senior philosophy major, won a total of 15 ranks playing the expert witness and psychologist Dr. Micah Lin, only one rank away from winning an outstanding witness award.
Weik stated that he’s “been in mock trial ever since [he] came to UTampa, and [he had] never been so happy to see how far B team’s come” in that time.
Lauren Rosell, a sophomore business management major, acted as both a defense witness and a prosecution attorney. Of Weik’s performance, she said, “watching him play Dr. Lin was absolutely one of the highlights of the weekend. He’s so charismatic and truly the perfect witness; he completely adopts whatever character he’s playing as his own, and it’s beautiful to watch.”
Rosell added that the B team “had a lot of fun,” and that the competition encouraged “a lot of great team bonding.”
After the competition, stand-in coach Anthony Dietrich, junior communications and speech major, talked about how much the team had grown. “I’m the president of mock trial, and captain of the A team,” he said. “I’m so proud to have coached [B team]. I’m so proud of them.”
Just before winning his award, Provenzano remarked that the mock trial case’s make-believe defendant Charlie Martin “was definitely guilty of murder.”
“So guilty,” Dietrich agreed.
UTampa’s A and C mock trial teams will travel to Tallahassee Feb. 21–22 to compete in their regional competition.