Zoe Swenson, ‘23
This weekend, Case Western Reserve University Mock Trial returned from the long winter break to prove that there’s nothing that can hamper their ability to FB and GB. No one could say that the odds were not stacked against them. At Luther, CWRUMT fielded a team that was not A, B, or C, but instead an amalgamation of mockers from all three teams who geared up for this tournament after three meetings that could truly only generously be described as practices. As the sun rose on January 14th 2022, CWRUMT’s prospects seem bleak. The lack of preparations, the absurdity of our defense theory, and the knowledge that all competitions before regionals would be a return to the depressing world of Zoom Mock weighed on our competitors as heavily as the weight of fact rests on the prosecution’s counsel bench. Nevertheless, this band of miscreant mockers, bye-bust besties, Luther losers, managed to defy the odds and come away with not just two individual awards, not just the Spirit of AMTA, but a 7-1 record and a second-place finish. Each and every member of this team truly was #thelegacy this weekend.
Alex Wang ‘25 gave two terrific closing arguments that seized on every weakness and doubt in the state’s case, and two cross examinations that proved he was, without doubt, the Alpha Alex. Ananya Shashi ‘25 had her very first outing as an attorney, and literally no one who competed against her would know it. She performed phenomenally as a middle attorney and exposed every Kiran Singh in the Luther field as the lying liars they are. Arselan Rekhif ‘24 endured an eleven-minute cross examination where his likable demeanor and subtle promotions of Trading Tobin LLC kept a single bad fact from landing effectively. Annie Castegnero ‘25 crossed a Maddox Vaughn in a moment so iconic that it will remain a meme in St. Olaf Mock Trial’s lexicon for generations to come. Gabrielle Vaccaro ‘25 made an unreasonable and upsetting quantity of good objections for a freshman who has been doing mock trial for half a year. Russell Low ‘25 gave a relaxed, approachable and reliable expert portrayal so well executed and captivating that it swung a tight round four in CWRU’s favor. Maddy Fox ‘25 contained multitudes this weekend, somehow believably pulling off both a lovable, credible character witness and hostile alternate suspect. She never failed to bring an exciting zoom profile picture into the mix during comments. Prateek Dullur ‘23 gave an open so captivating that he managed to convince two different judges that ‘three eyewitnesses three much doubt’ theory fit under the label ‘reasonable.’ Also he said he slept in a dog bed on direct, a fact which will forever be preserved in our memory of this tournament. Zoe Swenson ‘23 showed two different fake demonstratives at the Captains meetings she attended—one of which was literally a bottle of ketchup–but Nick Cosmo ‘22 smiled through her nonsense with such kindness and good spirits that the team managed to win the Spirit of AMTA–an award given to the team demonstrating the most kindness and civility (editor’s note: while my smile was surely determinative to some degree, the SPAMTA award was a team effort that everyone should take some credit for, even Zoe and her ketchup shenanigans). Both also received individual awards–Zoe with 20 ranks on the Prosecution and Cosmo with 18 as Alex Silva.
Case Western Reserve University Mock Trial would also like to formally issue gratitude to Zoe’s roommate Kelsey ‘23, who performed a tremendous act of service on behalf of the team by waking her up 15 minutes before the round started.
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Your Custom Text Here
