The Varsity Mock Trial team competed at State during the last weekend of March at Mizzou.

Thomas Puetz, math teacher, is the teacher sponsor for Mock Trial. He said Mock Trial hadn’t gone to State for about 11 years.

“Only 8 out of the 30 or so schools in the St. Louis region get to advance to State,” Puetz said. “There is some very strong competition.”

The club is highly student-led, and they spent a lot of time preparing for each competition.

“The team deserves the credit for making it so far,” Puetz said. “I coordinate meetings where the team can meet with real lawyers and judges to improve their skills. I also set up scrimmages with other schools so that we are ready to compete.”

Sixteen teams went to State, and MHS placed in the top 8. They lost in the third round in a close match to Kirkwood.

“These were some of the most intense trials I have ever seen,” Puetz said. “Objections were flying, witnesses were impeached, and closing arguments were powerful. You would have thought it was a real trial. I expected us to give it our all, and we certainly did.”

Sanjay Elangovan, senior, has been part of Mock Trial since his freshman year. He said his favorite part of the activity is analyzing the depositions of witnesses and coming up with cross examinations that push the other side into admitting what his team needs them to say.

“To see the other team fall into the trap during trial was always a rewarding experience,” Elangovan said.

Like Puetz, Elangovan is very proud of their accomplishment with how far they made it in the competition, especially after how hard they worked. Before Districts and State, they had two hour long meetings at Bread Co. every few days, and during the week of State they met every day to work on their individual parts and also collaborate ideas together.

”The competition was, on the whole, very good,” Elangovan said. “We faced a variety of different styles of opponents, some angry and abrasive, others mellow and subtle. We had to adapt to their moves and to what the judge was looking for in the trial, and we did very well at that. For me personally, it truly was a great way to end my time in Mock Trial.”