After months of memorizing and practicing, the Anzar High School
Mock Trial team placed 34th out of 36 teams at the California Mock
Trial Competition March 28-29.
After months of memorizing and practicing, the Anzar High School Mock Trial team placed 34th out of 36 teams at the California Mock Trial Competition March 28-29.
Anzar tied its best performance at the competition, said Marilyn Breiling, team coach and club advisor.
“They though they would have done a little better than that. But right away, they knew what they can do for next year,” Breiling said.
After each trial at the competition, the judges talked with participants about what they could improve upon.
“They told them to become more familiar with the case, which is what they always say,” Breiling said.
Judges told the students to be more loose and use hand signals. Anzar sophomore and mock trial participant Brittany Conrad said the judges don’t like students to use notes at all.
“Their most common suggestion was to practice more,” Conrad said. “They said we conveyed good information but that we need to work on presenting. Other teams had their parts 100-percent memorized.”
Despite Anzar’s low placing, Conrad said she thinks the team did “fantastic and improved so much,” and knows what do to for next year.
The team wants to have more practice, since it hasn’t had to compete to go to the state competition recently. Some teams have five or six competitions before they get to that point, Breiling said.
The team is also thinking about selecting those who will portray witnesses after the lawyer characters have studied the case, which is released in early October.
San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield has already agreed to coach the team for the eighth time next year, Breiling said.
