The University of Illinois Springfield Mock Trial Club recently finished fifth among 28 teams during the 2018 Jayhawk Invitational hosted by the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan.
In achieving the fifth place finish, the team also broke all previous school records in mock trial competition.
The group of seven UIS students, which included 2014 Mendota High School graduate Jayde Schlesinger, Chance Austin of Rochester; Andrew Jarmer of Garden City, Kan. and Springfield; Courtney Johnson of Pewaukee, Wis.; Christopher Marbaniang of Tuscaloosa, Ala. and Shillong, India; Joseph Partain of Luka; and Mario Saucedo of Colima, Mexico, defeated four nationally-ranked teams to win the fifth-place title.
A total of 19 nationally-ranked teams took part in the invitational.
UIS had the highest CS score of any ranked team in the tournament, which means UIS faced some of the toughest competition in the tournament.
The team is coached by UIS alumnus Nathan Hoffman and attorney-coach Rex Gradeless, a UIS adjunct assistant professor.
This story appeared in the Mendota Reporter on February 1, 2018.
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