By ANDY ZUPSCAN

ASHTABULA, Ohio. The CWRU Model United Nations team captured the first place team trophy this afternoon at the Sixth Annual Lake Erie Collegiate Model UN Conference hosted by Kent State University Ashtabula Campus. The CWRU team edged out Youngstown State University by 3 points to win the competition. This is CWRU Model UN's third 1st place finish in the five years it has competed at the Lake Erie Conference.

The conference was attended by eleven schools: Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University, Kent State University Ashtabula Campus, Kent State University Main Campus, Kent State University Stark Campus, Mercyhurst College, North Georgia State College and University, Ohio University, University of Tulsa, University of Western Kentucky, and Youngstown State University. The Conference awarded first through fourth place team awards and a small school award as follows:

Team Scores:

The most significant thing to note is that the CWRUMUN win was truly a full team effort. According to Andy Zupcsan, CWRUMUN's head delegate, "Every good team has its dominating delegates, but what lets CWRU win consistently is our depth. Even if one person has a sub-par conference, others are there to pick up the slack. Our top delegates level the playing field, but the rest of the team is what pushes us over the top." The team was especially strong this year, as evidenced by the fact that this was the best team score CWRU has ever achieved at this conference.

This year's CWRU team consisted of 22 members, 13 of whom were rookies to CWRUMUN. Despite the team's youth, it came away with 11 individual awards out of 17 delegations. The Lake Erie conference grades delegates in three categories: Portrayal, Debate and Procedure, and Caucusing and Resolution Writing. For each session, these scores are combined into a composite score from zero to five, with 4 meriting an Excellent award and 5 meriting a Superior award.

Committee Assignments & Awards

In addition to their Superior awards, Jason, Elton, and Josh each received the gavel in their committee. The giving of the gavel by committee presidents is a tradition at Kent Ashtabula recognizing delegates who distinguish themselves in committee beyond what the awards system can indicate.

The CWRU Model UN Club is now looking forward to its own conference, the Cleveland National Model UN (CNMUN), which will be hosted November 12-14 at the Case Law School's Gund Hall. This year's conference will be the largest ever with well over 100 students from a dozen schools. Bryan Inderhees, the CNMUN IV Secretary General, received numerous inquiries about CNMUN during the Lake Erie Conference that could push the attendance even higher. As for the CWRUMUN membership, the win has provided a positive boost that will carry the entire team through the next few weeks of final preparations.