The Mock Trial team took first place at the 2014 NorCal Mock Trial invitational, held at Menlo High School in Atherton, on January 11. The NorCal tournament serves as an important step towards annual state and county mock trial competitions.
“Going into the tournament, we were worried,” senior and Mock Trial captain Peter Swanson said. “Last year we took first place, and that’s a lot to live up to. We ended up in first place again, which was fantastic. This was a large coming-together point [for our team].”
Freshmen and sophomores comprise the majority of this year’s team, and are for the most part new to the mock trial program. “Starting out, it was a little bit rocky,” Swanson said. “We have a lot of people in roles they’ve never been in before.”
“I went in [to the event] thinking we weren’t going to win, because we’re so new,” junior Annapurna Holtzapple said. “It was empowering [because] we’ve worked so hard for this. At the same time, you can’t rest on your laurels. You have to keep pushing.”
The team garnered a number of individual awards at the event, distributed for the quality of the performances of individual members of the team in their assigned roles.
photo courtesy of Dani Budish
“We did end up winning first place, but even better than that, we were swept with individual awards,” Swanson said. “Our entire defense team won awards. Everyone received first place awards except for one person who took second place.”
After participating in the NorCal invitational, the team travelled to Santa Barbara on January 17 to participate in trial scrimmages in preparation for the annual Marin County Mock Trial competition. The team has placed first at the county event for 18 consecutive years. Due to the program’s legacy at the competition, the county meet is one of the most important events of the year for the program.
“We go to all these tournaments and scrimmages, all in preparation for county,” sophomore Trent Waltz said. “We’ve won 18 years in a row and are definitely trying to get to 19.”
“There’s a lot of pressure,” Holtzapple said. “The team has been getting first place [at this event] for longer than anyone on it has been alive.”
Swanson cited the team’s recent efforts, in practice and at competitions, as indicators of the importance of the county event.
“NorCal and Santa Barbara [served as an opportunity for us to] test our mettle against some top-tier teams,” Swanson said. “We’re just trying to get really prepared for county competition.”