PHC Moot Court Team Wins ACMA National Championship
January 22nd, 2013
By Chelsea Rankin.
| CONTACT: | David Halbrook Patrick Henry College (540) 441-8722 OfficeOfCommunications@phc.edu |
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Patrick Henry College won its fifth consecutive National Championship at this year’s American Collegiate Moot Court Association (ACMA) championship tournament. In the final round, Andrew Ferguson, a senior, and Katie Tipton, a sophomore, defeated a team from the College of Wooster to win the championship for PHC.
“Winning a national championship is not an individual effort,” Ferguson said. “It takes a hard-working partner, a supportive team, excellent coaches, and most of all the blessing of a gracious God. Without any of these, winning is an impossibility.”
By winning this year’s championship, Ferguson became only the second competitor in ACMA history to win back-to-back championships – he and then-partner J.C. Cartee defeated the College of New Jersey in 2012. The only other competitor to duplicate this feat was PHC’s Rachel Heflin, who won two championships in 2009 and 2010.
Despite competition at the American Collegiate Moot Court Association being stiffer than ever before, moot court coaches Dr. Michael Farris and Dr. Frank Guliuzza were confident PHC teams were equipped to excel at the national tournament.
“I just hope that people understand that winning is not automatic,” Farris said. “We have to work very hard every year and are facing increasingly challenging opponents, including the second place team from Wooster. The Air Force Academy team was also an excellent team. We are grateful to be able to do well and get such quality opponents.”
According to Dr. Guliuzza, about 300 teams competed in nine national qualifying tournaments for the bids to the National Championship Tournament at Regent University Law School in Virginia Beach, Va. After regionals, over 75% of all the teams were eliminated, creating the field for the Championship Tournament. Schools that qualified teams for the championship included Duke, Texas A & M, The United States Air Force Academy, the University of Virginia, and the always powerful College of Wooster (a past national champion, and three-time national runner-up). PHC has now won seven national tournaments and is the five-time defending national champion.
“The Lord was so gracious to allow me and Andrew to capture what everyone on Patrick Henry's moot court team has worked for over the past six months,” Tipton said. “This was only possible because of hours with Drs. Guliuzza and Farris and practicing with the best teams in the country. What an honor to help give Andrew a second title and to preserve PHC’s streak.”
Next years tournament is scheduled for January, 2014 at Arizona State University.
FINAL RESULTS:
ORAL ARGUMENT
2013 National Champion:
Patrick Henry College
Andrew Ferguson & Katie Tipton
Semifinalists (3rd Place):
Patrick Henry College
James Compton & Samuel Johnson
Patrick Henry College
Kayla Griesemer & John Cartee
The “Sweet Sixteen” (9th Place):
Patrick Henry College
James Nelson & John Ehrett
The Top 32:
Patrick Henry College
Cameron Etchart & Sam Cordle
Patrick Henry College
Blake Meadows & Ben Williamson
Patrick Henry College
Lauren Fischer & Ruan Meintjes
Patrick Henry College
Claire Rossell & Elizabeth Ertle
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL ORATORS (Top 10)
Fourth Place:
Patrick Henry College -Samuel Johnson
Sixth Place:
Patrick Henry College - J.C. Cartee
Tenth Place:
Patrick Henry College - Sam Cordle
BRIEF-WRITING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Petitioner:
Third Place:
Patrick Henry College -
Blake Meadows & Ben Williamson
Fourth Place:
Patrick Henry College
Andrew Ferguson & Katie Tipton
Respondent:
Fourth Place:
Patrick Henry College
Kayla Griesemer & John Cartee
Fifth Place:
Patrick Henry College
Samuel Johnson & James Compton
