By Alec Caso
Part of the Mock Trial team made it to County quarterfinals on Nov. 18, placing fifth in the overall competition.
The team was split up into two separate teams this year, the West team and the Lake team.
“Both teams went undefeated until the West team beat the Lake team. The West team won by such a close margin that it ended up knocking both teams out of the tournament,” David Hinden, adviser for the Mock Trial team, said.
The Mock Trial team had their first round of trials Nov. 3.
The Lake team won by a large margin over Wilson, and they had four students with perfect scores.
Ben Dreier â10, Brooke Pechman â11, Derek Schlom â09 and Elizabeth Evashwick â11 all had perfect scores during the first round. The West team also beat their opponent Polytechnic and had two students with perfect scores, expert witness Josh Oreman â09 and attorney Kate Liebman â09.
The team has gone to state four times after winning the County wide competition since its foundation in 1992. The best they placed was fourth in state.
Due to the large numbers of students this year the program was able to field two teams.
Each team did well in the competition, never losing to another team and eventually facing each other.
The West team had proceeded to the quarterfinals by beating the Lake team, knocking Lake out of the tournament.
The West team then faced Valencia and defeated them by a fairly large margin.
Due to the close win that the West team had over the Lake team, the West team was unable to continue even though they were undefeated.
Four students won awards for their achievements during the tournament.
Seniors Alexia Boyarsky, Josh Oreman and Cameron Chalfant won awards for individual witness roles, while sophomore Matthew Lee placed second in the senior division court journalism competition.
“After I had written the article, I felt good about it,” Lee said. “When I was told I had won second in Journalism I was surprised but very happy, and I am looking forward to being the journalist for the team next year.”
