Northwood University in Midland, Mich., placed fourth in the nation at the American Mock Trial Association Collegiate Championship Competition.
Oneteam member was
Terry Stephens, a graduate of Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda.
The school earned this national ranking by taking second place in one of two divisions in St. Paul, Minn., on April 4-6. The Northwood team earned the right to compete at this championship tournament by winning a series of regional and national qualifying events.
Other schools competing at championships included New York University, United States Air Force Academy, Cornell, Duke and Princeton, all of which placed lower in the final rankings than Northwood.
Rankings are based on win-loss record.
Team member
Jonathan Hartsfield, a sophomore at Northwood and a graduate of Renaissance High School in Detroit, won an All-American Attorney award. He was one of 20 awardees out of the more than 1,500 individual competitors who have competed either regionally or nationally in hopes of earning this award at championships.
The success of Northwood is unique in that the university does not have a pre-law major and the team is only four years old. Team members credit their success to their diversity and the hard work put into preparations.
Co-captain
Farris Muhammad, a senior and graduate of Chadsey High School in Detroit, stated, "We emerged from this year more than a team. Not only did we skip spring break so that we could spend hours and hours preparing for a national qualifying tournament and championships, but also made sure we had fun in the process."
Co-captain
John Repovsch, a senior from Tucson, Ariz., felt that the team's success came from "the 3 Rs-respect, resourcefulness, and resilience."
Advisor and Northwood Professor
DeLois Leapheart, J.D., said, "This team had remarkable synergy.
Other team members were
Kofi Opoku from Ghana, Africa;
John Repovsch from Tucson, Ariz.;
Danielle Hodges,from Hastings, Mich.,
Will Freeland from Montague, Mich., and
Lou Danner from Ypsilanti, Mich.
Northwood University is a private, nonprofit, accredited university specializing in managerial and entrepreneurial education offering four-year degrees in a variety of enterprise fields.
The Richard DeVos Graduate School of Management's Full-time, Evening, and Switzerland MBA programs make Northwood's free market-based degree offerings in management and enterprise the most complete anywhere.
The university emphasizes the importance of free enterprise and is dedicated to the preservation of the free market and the important relationship between business and the arts.
Northwood operates a residential campus in Michigan, Florida and Texas; the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Maine; University College outreach centers and locations in eight states in the U.S. including a Distance Education online program; and several international study programs abroad.