LAW: Poly High School’s mock trial secured their fifth title in six years at the Riverside County Mock Trial Competition and finished in sixth place at the California State Mock Trial Finals.
By Natalie Apostol, Staff Writer
Poly High School is known for housing bright, hard-working students, many of whom are on the school’s mock trial team. The mock trial students showcased their ability to argue case law and perform well under pressure when they won the county title at the Riverside Historic Courthouse on March 5, 2016.
They practice two days out of the week for three hours in addition to tournaments on weekends and summer practices starting in June and work tirelessly to attain a high level of success. They have continuously studied and practiced the court case material since September. “I felt like all of my crosses, directs, and closing were so memorized I could do them while sleeping!” Sophia Helfand (12), who played a major role as an attorney on both the defense and prosecution at the competition, explained.
Like any competitive team, Mock Trial has a coaching staff to help them prepare for their tournaments. Mr. Matthew Schiller, the team’s teacher coach and chemistry teacher at Poly, has been successful in helping the team achieve victory over the last six years. “This year’s team is different than the last few years due to the depth of talent that the students possess. They have been delivering consistently excellent performances throughout the competition which allowed us to clench the county title this year,” Schiller stated. The team is also fortunate enough to have the support of two attorney coaches, Joshua Hanks and Carlos Monagas.
Mock Trial has been successful because they work in unison. “We are actually cohesive and work well together. There isn’t one single superstar who leads the team. It is the conglomeration and teamwork of everyone that makes the team special this year. We are all friends which also helps,” Cassidy Ballard (11) expressed.
At the county competition, which takes place at the downtown courthouses, the team went through several rounds of competition and surpassed many schools in Riverside County. Attorneys and witnesses of both teams battled it out in the courtroom with real judges. Then, after conquering Hemet High School in semi-finals and Murrieta Valley High School in the final round, Poly claimed their well-deserved county title.
“I felt extremely relieved that we had won the county title. It was satisfying to know that all the practices and scrimmages had paid off. The final round was extremely nerve-wracking, and to find out that we had taken first was fantastic,” Danielle Oyama (11), one of the team’s two pre-trial attorneys, stated ecstatically.
Several students also received awards at the county competition including Brendan Brown (12) who received ‘Outstanding Pre-Trial Prosecution’, Ashley Gore (12) as ‘Outstanding Defense Attorney’, and Malik Alexander for ‘Outstanding Prosecution Witness’.
But winning the county competition was not the end of the season for the team. Mock Trial continued to practice as they advanced to the California Mock Trial Competition in Sacramento. On March 18, the team finished in sixth place out of 34 competing schools in California. “The state competition is different than the county competition in a couple of ways. First, each part of the trial is scored on a five-point scale (instead of a ten-point scale like at county), so the rounds tend to be very close. Also, the competition at state is crazy! … At least ten teams there could win it all,” Helfand mentioned. Helfand also placed in the top three for the ‘Outstanding Attorney’ award. With new awards and achievements under the team’s belt, Mock Trial’s season finally comes to an end.