PHC finishes moot court season with 4 out of the top 10 teams in the nation

The Patrick Henry College moot court program just wrapped up one of its most successful seasons to date—qualifying 13 teams to the new pre-national tournaments (including four regional champions), seven teams to nationals (including a pre-national champion), and landing all four of its teams in the octa-final, quarter-final, semi-final, and final rounds of the national championship. Oh, and also three award-winning legal briefs, (including first place). Pretty impressive? We think so.

The program’s coaches were curious whether the changes to the American Moot Court Association’s competition structure—adding a new “super-regional” tournament between regionals and nationals—would affect the team’s performance. It appears the change only made them stronger. In the fall, PHC qualified 13 teams for the pre-national tournament, the only school this season to qualify more teams for pre-nationals than were allotted. Four of those 13 were regional champions (tying with PHC records for the most regional wins in a season). 

The program sent four teams to the regional tournament at Liberty University. Two first-time teams made it to the quarter-final and semi-final rounds of the competition. Sophomore Abigail Spivey and sophomore Zeke Johnson placed 7th, and freshman Rebecca Phillips and sophomore Caleb Helsing placed 4th. Junior Trinity Klomparens and senior Calvin Huh took home 1st. 

In Indiana, the program qualified two more teams, senior Linnea Stuart and senior Eden Mackie placing 6th, and junior Rachel Greenlee and sophomore Zachary Barnes placing 3rd.

PHC qualified yet three more teams at the next regional, locking out finals at the University of Central Florida. Sophomores Hannah Fear and Ryan Olson placed 5th, sophomore Ainsley Stellman and junior Jason Chahyadi took 2nd, and senior Finn Buck and junior Sarah Fox took 1st. Oh, and the program also sent the teams over to Disney World while they were in Florida (...perhaps the biggest win of the season). Who said the moot court program doesn’t let their teams have fun?

Seniors Andrew Bleiler and James Elliott brought home a win from the regional tournament at Yale University. Freshmen Allie Satterfield and Wyatt Trull took home 1st from the regional at Maryland, and seniors and semi-finalists Olivia Green and Clara York took 4th. 

At the infamously difficult regional tournament in Fitchburg, PHC qualified two more teams. Junior Hannah Bruck and sophomore Benjamin Spivey placed 6th, and freshmen Noah Todd and Matthias Todd placed 10th.

Already, the school’s season was off to a running start. 

After the regional tournaments concluded, PHC had qualified more teams than it could send to the pre-national tournaments. The school sent 12 teams to compete at three of the four pre-nationals—Louisiana State University, NOVA Southeastern in Florida, and the University of Kentucky. 

At LSU, PHC qualified three teams: Klomparens and Huh (1st), Bruck and Spivey (6th), and Spivey and Johnson (8th). At NOVA, three more teams: Bleiler and Elliott (2nd), Stellman and Chahyadi (5th), and Fox and Buck (6th). The final team that qualified was Satterfield and Trull (4th) at the University of Kentucky. With a four-team cap per school, PHC yet again qualified more teams than it could send to the national championship. And again, it was the only school to have accomplished that this season. 

At the national championship, the teams put forward outstanding performances. PHC took home yet another championship title: Klomparens and Huh won 1st place for their written Petitioner brief. This was Huh’s second year winning this award, making him the third PHC student to win two brief writing championships. The program won two other brief-writing awards—Fox and Buck (14th place Petitioner), and seniors Kaitlyn Tully and Gage Neudigate (8th place Respondent). 

The school finished the season with four of the top 10 teams in the nation. Stellman and Chahyadi (2nd), Klomparens and Huh (3rd), Fox and Buck (6th), and Bleiler and Elliott (10th). No other school in the nation had more than one team make the top-10.

The PHC moot court program has proven itself, once again, the top program in the nation. We are so thankful for the coaches, students, and alumni mentors that make this possible. The coaches and competitors are already looking forward to next season!

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 Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.