This Friday through Sunday Luther’s mock trial teams will compete at Macalester College’s (Minn.) invitational mock trial competition. The mock trial teams, led by Mitch Zoelzer (‘10), Allison Dahlberg (‘11) and Jonathan Grieder (‘12), recently competed amongst nine other teams in a competition held at Luther Oct. 24.

Zoelzer’s team won the competition, which included teams from Iowa State University, Central College (Iowa) and the University of Wisconsin—La Crosse.

Participant Sydney Bean (‘12), who is on Zoelzer’s team, is looking forward to competing at Macalester Nov. 6-8.

“We’ve made a lot of progress since last year, and this upcoming event is going to be much bigger with stiffer competition,” Bean said.

Each year the team gets a fictional court case, which is identical for mock trial teams across the nation. The team then prepares a case for both sides. A half hour before the trial, they learn whether they are representing the defense or the prosecution, then act out the trial with another team, getting points from the judges based on their statements and questions.

Mock trial members vary in levels of experience, so the group is open for anyone to join.

For Luther, this is only the beginning of the mock trial year.

“The first semester is really about practicing and experimenting, because in February we need to be prepared for regionals,” said Dahlberg.

For the regional competition, teams must qualify to compete, unlike the open-for-all invitationals.

Both Dahlberg and Bean consider mock trial a team-oriented event.

“We’re called captains, but once we get into the courtroom, it’s a level playing field,” Dahlberg said. “Nobody’s points are worth more than anyone else’s.”

Both teams are intensively practicing this week to prepare for the upcoming competition.

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Bean said.

Dahlberg agreed.

“After the experience at Luther, I think our team is much better prepared for the next competition,” Dahlberg said.