Award-winning performances at Purdue reflect strength of OHIO Mock Trial

Ohio University’s Mock Trial Green team placed second at the Boilermaker Brawl Invitational, a regional competition hosted by Purdue University on Oct ob3 and 4. 

In addition to the overall team, Luke Viviano and Sara Kraus, both sophomores, won awards for their performances over the weekend. 

Vivano won an outstanding attorney award as closing attorney for the defense.

“Delivering a closing argument is a pretty daunting thing at times; you have to be able to address everything that actually happened at trial,” Viviano said. “So as much as you want [to] prepare and write out your argument, you can never totally predict what you will have to say.”

Kraus won two outstanding witness awards for her performance as an expert in engineering and electrical standards for the defense and as an expert accident reconstructionist for the plaintiff.

“It's my job to maintain professionalism as an expert, while making sure I am combative enough to defend my team's theory,” Kraus wrote in an email.

Kraus said that the moments the team share outside the courtroom are just as meaningful as the ones shared within it. “During the week we spend hours working on our case, the weekends working football games and the nights hanging out together,” she wrote. “As a team we all become incredibly close. I consider both of my attorneys close friends and I think the OU Mock Trial teams score well because judges and jury members can feel a genuine connection and sense of chemistry.”

Viviano echoed a similar sentiment.

“I think what makes us ‘good’ is that we like being around each other,” he wrote. “I think this work and the time we spend on it would be a whole lot more difficult if we didn't enjoy working with one another.”

Senior and Mock Trial President Raegan Elliot said that the team had three weeks to prepare, which included studying a 200-page case packet with 30 pieces of evidence and 11 potential witnesses.

“The whole team did so well preparing and writing materials in such a short amount of time and they particularly did a great job in competition at being both familiar with the case and being able to rely on both memorization and improvisation,” Elliot wrote.

She wrote that the hardest part for most Mock Trial members is feeling comfortable public speaking.

“Every trial you face an unknown lineup of attorneys, witnesses, and judges, and it can be very daunting to perform confidently in front of them,” Elliot saod. “However, the best part for me was watching my teammates, especially my new ones, overcome their nerves and visibly improve over the course of the weekend.”

It can be extra tough to perform well under pressure at these competitions, though for this reason Kraus wrote that it’s important to stay calm, be quick on your feet and adjust to obstacles as they appear.

“It can be incredibly challenging to navigate what chaos teams may have to throw at you, but incredibly gratifying to have a team to lean on in those moments,” she wrote.

The team, coached by Larry Hayman, Esq, and Charles Cohara, will continue preparing for their next competition in PIttsburgh, PA in mid-November.