General Tournament Information:
The University of Iowa Mock Trial team will be hosting the 9th Annual Cornshucker Challenge on November 14-15, 2009.
The tournament will be a four-round tournament. All rounds will be held on the University of Iowa campus.
The selectively competitive tournament will continue to offer a small and highly competitive field comprised of teams from across the country.
The field size will be capped at 28 teams.
Registration fees will be $120 per competing team. We must receive
your registration fee no later than September 15, 2009. A late fee of
$50 will be charged if the registration fee is received after
September 15, but before September 30. On September 30, 2009, any team
that has failed to pay the registration fee will have its secured spot
offered to a team on the wait-list.
Each year we provide judges from local firms and the law school. We ask that you bring one judge per competing team.
It is our hope that we will have to use as few of these judges as possible. In the event that we do need to use your judge,
we will divide them among the teams present as evenly as possible to maximize your judge's ability to view your team.
If you have questions concerning who to submit payment to or any other issues, please e-mail the tournament director, Neal Schuett
Tournament Schedule:
The tournament will be held on the University of Iowa campus. All rounds will be held in the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU) and the English-Philosophy Building (EPB).
Saturday, November 14th
Registration 8-8:30am
Opening Ceremony/Challenge 8:30am
Round 1 Captains Meeting 9am
Round 1 Judges Meeting 9:30am
Round 1 10am
Round 2 Captains Meeting 2:30pm
Round 2 Judges Meeting 2:30pm
Sunday, November 15th
Round 3 Captains Meeting 8:30am
Round 3 Judges Meeting 8:30am
Round 3 9am
Round 4 Captains Meeting 1:30pm
Round 4 Judges Meeting 1:30pm
Round 4 2pm
Awards Ceremony - Levitt Auditorium, Boyd Law Building
**The awards ceremony will begin immediately after tabulations are completed**
Tournament Field:
| School | # of teams |
|---|---|
| Washington University | 2 |
| Drake University | 2 |
| Miami University | 2 |
| Notre Dame | 2 |
| Cornell College | 2 |
| Loras College | 2 |
| Northwestern | 2 | Macalester College | 2 |
| UMKC | 2 |
| Hamline University | 1 |
| Vanderbilt | 1 |
| Grinnell College | 1 |
| Ohio State University | 1 |
| Columbia University | 1 |
| University of Illinois | 1 |
| University of Kansas | 1 |
| Minnesota-Morris | 1 |
| St. Olaf College | 1 |
| Illinois-Chicago | 1 |
| Eastern Michigan | 1 |
| Loyola-Chicago | 1 |
|
Iowa |
2 |
|
Total Number of Confirmed Teams: |
32 |
Alterations to AMTA Rules:
First Round Team Pairings - Challenge Format
- Instead of a first round random draw, we will be having a modified challenge system in which teams will come and draw for their challenge order.
- As the host school, 2008-2009 Cornshucker Challenge Champion, University of Iowa, waives it's right to the first challenge
- All teams will draw a number at registration, to determine their order in the challenge line up.
- At the opening meeting, teams will challenge, in order, from the rank list. The #1 challenger can pick any team from the field to challenge. Then, the #2 team can pick any team from the field to challenge, and so on until all teams have an opponent.
- Teams that are CHALLENGED shall have the option to pick their side, or defer side selection to their opponent.
- In the event that a team challenges the next team in line (i.e. if the #1 team were to challenge the #2 team) then that would be a match up, and the next unmatched opponent in line (presumably, #3) would pick their next opponent from the remaining competitors.
- No teams may challenge or face teams from their same institution.
- In the event that we get down to the last 2 teams, and they are from the same institution, we will "reset" the immediately proceeding challenge, and match teams up so that a same school match up does not occur.
Pairing Format
The Cornshucker Challenge will be using the pairing system that was adopted by the AMTA board for the National Championship Tournament. This means after the first round the Cornshucker Challenge tab room will use a high-high pairing system throughout the tournament. The third round coin flip will be conducted in accordance with AMTA policy (i.e. there will not be individual coin flips prior to the third round).
Scouting
While AMTA rules do not prohibit teams from watching the rounds of their competitors in order to scout, the Cornshucker Challenge is a scouting-free tournament. Please respect our decision to prohibit scouting during the tournament. Penalties for violating this prohibition may be assessed in the tab room at the discretion of the tournament director.
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