At Duke, Developmental Teams Hope to End Semester on High Note

Both of MMT's two developmental teams, the All-American Redirects and Jamaican Justice, will compete this weekend at Duke University's Tobacco Road Invitational.

"For both of these teams, it's our last competition of the semester. So we want to show up and close out the semester on a high note," said Jamaican Justice competitor Zach Stevens.

For the All-American Redirects, coached by Laura Tholke and Jaime Glinka, Duke provides an opportunity to build on the steady progress the team has made all year long. At the team's first ever competition this season, the Redirects went 3-5 before turning that record on its head and going 5-3 at Illinois State.

"We've been getting better all year long," said Redirects co-captain and first-year competitor Henry Leaman. "This tournament will be a challenge but it's a challenge we're ready for."

The Tobacco Road Invitational will likely present the stiffest competition these two MMT teams have seen this season. Last year's defending champions, Florida State University, will be looking to preserve their mock trial stardom and 2012's national champions, Duke, are hosting. Perennial mock trial powerhouse Harvard will also be competing.

Jamaican Justice, fresh off a disappointing 1-6-1 finish at Illinois State, will be looking to turn things around. Having scrimmaged Miami's A Team yesterday and enlisted the coaching help of veteran MMT competitors Alex Block and Brandon Patterson, coach Dan Herron is confident his team will live up to the promise of their talent.

"We've made big progress," said rookie competitor Christine Ostrosky. "We just need to show up, shake off the nerves and sell what we're presenting."

Both the All-American Redirects and Jamaican Justice are comprised almost exclusively of rookie competitors. Respectively, they will have the fourth and thirteenth challenges at the Tobacco Road Invitational, which will feature two rounds on Saturday and two rounds on Sunday.

More about the Miami teams competing here.

More about the Tobacco Road Invitational here.