York’s Mock Trial team continued their strong winning streak this weekend at both Dupage County High School Mock Trial Invitational as well as Central Illinois High School Mock Trial Regional Invitational. On Saturday, Feb. 10., York’s Mock Trial Varsity team competed in the competition held at Dupage Court County. The competition consisted of more than 20 teams from 16 different schools.

The case this year is a civil case: Addison Grant v Sam Smith. Provided by the Illinois State Bar Association, each team participates in two trials– one playing the defense and the other the plaintiff. The teams are then evaluated by the jury, played by multiple seasoned attorneys, as well as the presiding judge.

In the first trial, York played defense against Glenbard South High School and dominated the competition. In the second trial, York played plaintiff against Timothy Christian Team A in a fierce competition.

York ultimately was announced among the top eight teams in the competition. Though the orders of the top schools weren’t announced, the team speculated that they came in third. Seniors Chris Foster and Zorian Schiffman both won Best Attorney Awards and Chris Foster also won Best Witness Award.

On Monday, Feb. 12, York Mock Trial’s Varsity and JV team participated in the 2018 Central Illinois High School Mock Trial Regional competition for the very first time since 2013. The competition took place at the McLean County Law & Justice Center in Bloomington, Illinois.

In this mock trial competition there were more than 20 teams competing. York Varsity played plaintiff against Chicago Christian in their first trial and then defense against St. Charles East in their second trial.  

Along with the Varsity team, York’s JV team also competed in their very first competition. In their first round, York played defense against Maine West Team 2. In their second round, York played plaintiff against Niles West.

As a result of a successful competition, both teams were able to advance to the third round, where only the top 12 schools competed. In the third trial, York’s varsity team competed against St. Charles’s Blue team while York’s JV team competed against Timothy Christian’s A team.

The varsity team ultimately placed second out of 24 teams and the JV team came in fifth in their very first competition. Senior Grace Tully came as one of the top three best attorneys out of the whole competition.

“It felt really good to be singled out of a group of well over a hundred students who were all given the same material as you were. It just shows that what determines your success is the work you put into it and how much passion you have,”  Tully said. “And I think that passion and hard work is what’s given our team our edge, and what’s allowed us to place among the top teams at each competition so far.”

York Mock Trial team’s sponsor, Amy Mueller, and Elizabeth Birchler, were equally proud of their students.

“The JV team did a great job down in normal in our competition. For many of them, it was their first competition and they placed fifth out of 23 teams and we couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Amy Mueller, senior club sponsor.

Chris Foster, a Varsity member of Mock Trial Team, had similar thoughts in regards to the progress of the team.

“The teams have progressed really well since the season started, they’ve performed really well in both competitions and we’re really proud of them,” said senior Foster, who received best attorney award on Saturday. “And as we look down the season, there are some few things we’ll change so that we can progress from second place to first place. But overall, the team is exceeding my expectation.”