YSU Moot Court team makes final four in Midwest Tournament

Youngstown State University’s Moot Court team competed in the Midwest Regional Moot Court competition at the College of Wooster.

The team, consisting of Alyssa Weyand, Maureen Baker, Ella Earnheardt, Sophia Misel, Guy Tepsick, Lauryn Swanson, Jada Judy and Tyler Church were sorted into four two-person teams, with Tepsick and Swanson, Earnheardt and Misel, and Weyand and Baker ranking 19th, 13th, and 6th on Day One, respectively.

The latter two teams then moved on to Day Two, where Weyand and Baker made the final four, qualifying them for the preliminary rounds of the national tournament, Jan. 10-11, 2025 in Houston, Texas.

To advance to the preliminary rounds, to be held at the University of Houston Law Center, Weyand and Baker competed against teams from Georgetown University, Indiana University Bloomington, Colorado Christian University, University of Chicago, Morehouse College and The College of Wooster.

In addition to team events, the competition also scored an individual oratory category. In this competition, Tepsick placed 10th, Baker placed 12th and Weyand placed 17th.

Charles Howell, dean of the Beeghly College of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences and Education, said the teams’ performance in this competition proves the quality of YSU’s prelaw programs.

“These students’ success stresses the excellence of YSU’s prelaw programs, the many opportunities it offers for students to work closely with faculty and the exposure it provides to strategies of legal reasoning as well as the legal profession,” Howell said. “I am incredibly proud of our students and am excited to see them go to the national preliminary rounds.”