The legal system is often not associated with the spirit of athletic competition, but for members of Northwestern’s nationally ranked mock trial team, the courtroom and the playing field bear striking resemblance.

“It’s like being a college athlete in the playoffs,” said Weinberg junior Anastasia Usova.

This year, for the first time in its history, NU’s mock trial team had all four groups qualify to compete at the national level. Two of these groups attended the silver nationals in Kentucky, grabbing fifth- and second-place titles. The second-place team then went to gold nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, finishing in the top 20 of the 64 best college teams in the United States.

But success didn’t come without stress, tension and loads of practice. Usova, who joined the team this school year after two years of participating in debate team, said she spent about 15 hours a week practicing with the highest- ranking NU group.

“You have to trust five to seven other people in order to win,” Usova said. “You have to deal with a lot of anxiety, because it’s actually like working with a legal team.”

For a tournament each team is given a fictional court case and must prepare to be both the plaintiff and the defense. The competition is conducted in four rounds, each with a different pairing of schools. Both sides are tried twice and judges score on presentation and content.

The team finally reached Kentucky the week before spring break after an entire school year of preparation. They had been through an incessant rotation of team members as people dropped out or were unable to keep participating — what Usova calls “difficulty and tragedy.” For her, the second-place ranking was a testament to the group’s strength and motivation.

“It was mind-blowing,” Usova said. “We were the underdog, and we came out on top.”

Teams compete in four rounds with two judges each, so each team has a total of eight “ballots,” or judges’ votes, it can win. Harvard University, which took first in the silver nationals, lost its only ballot to NU. Weinberg senior Jon Ksiazek, who served as the team captain, said it was one of the best tournaments he had ever seen.

“The team was really pumped, and everyone was at the top of their game,” he said. “We definitely rose to the competition’s level.”

Ksiazek said team practices were conducted in a very open setting and disagreement between members is just part of the deal.

“Mock trial is a bunch of future lawyers, so you’re bound to get arguing,” Ksiazek said. “It’s a part of mock trial itself because you learn to stand up for yourself.”

Learning was a major part of this year’s mock trial season. Weinberg junior Lindsay Eyler said that while the program is growing and attracting lots of talented people, there was a big difference in level of experience among members of her group.

“I was the only person (in my group) who’d done college mock trial,” said Eyler, who serves as the president of NU mock trial. “The others had to be taught everything. The season could have gone so badly, but it didn’t because everyone was very supportive.”

Weinberg senior Lena Konanova, captain of the fifth-place group and a four-year veteran of NU mock trial, said experience affects both practice and performance.

“When we were freshman, we were much more nervous; we scrambled to correct, we got upset if someone made a mistake,” Konanova said. “You learn to have faith in each other, specifically during competition.”

The team is technically in its off season, though members say “it’s hard to get it out of your system.” New members, such as Weinberg freshman Lul Tesfai, said they are looking forward to another year of improvement.

“The fact that we crossed the barrier and made it to nationals sets the bar much higher,” Tesfai said.

Reach Kristyn Schiavone at [email protected].