The court is now in session for Penn-Trafford High School’s mock trial team. Comprised of 26 members with nine returning, the team intends to argue their way into a successful season.
This held true at their first competition at the University of Pittsburgh. Placing 4th out of 48 teams, they were one of the four undefeated groups to win all four of their matches and make P-T history by placing and earning a trophy for the first time.
Leading into Pitt and moving forward, the team holds practices twice a week to prepare students for the environment of competition. With no detail being too small, all members of the team have dedicated themselves to be as proficient as possible leading into what their season is going to hold.
Mock trial leaders encourage new members
For new members of the mock trial team, there can be a lot of overwhelming information to take in. After all, not many people would know the difference between a voir dire and a subpoena on the spot. Regardless, the team leaders are doing their best to get the newer members acclimated with the environment.
Leading the group are coaches Christina Wukich and Steve Fulton alongside student captains Emma Bender and Nick Freilino. Teachers and students alike have buckled down in order to ensure success for all of the new and returning members.
Due to a restriction on the number of members a mock trial team is permitted, P-T divides its 26-member group into two: the A Team and the B Team.
The divisions are based upon experience in hopes that the B Team, mostly comprised of new members, can learn and gain knowledge from the other.
Bender explained, “While the students on B Team use the same case, they have different matches that will better suit the early-on capabilities of the new members in order to better associate them with the feeling of competition.”
With 17 rookies this season, veteran members of mock trial fall in the minority.
Freilino commented, “We are a very new team this year. There are only two members of the team this year that have competed going into Pitt and only one who has competed in the same role that they were in years prior.”
However, despite the massive rearrangement the team had to face going into their first competition, their expectations were exceeded.
“Based on Pitt, [the new members] seem to be adjusting pretty well. They were, as I joked at the time, loud and proud. They knew their parts and they were really good at reacting to hard questions they were asked,” added Fulton.
Both Fulton and Wukich agreed that they observed some key team-building qualities going into their first competition earlier this month.
“I go in there with the intention of everyone doing their best and having a good time, and hopefully forming some good relationships and becoming friends,” said Wukich. “That’s a key component of any team is that people enjoy each others company, respect each other’s contribution, and just seize each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Pitt competition sets bars high
Normally, the first competitive event of a season is not the largest event in the state. For every mock trial team from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, that fact is turned on its head as 52 teams went head to head on Jan. 5 to get a hands-on feel for their cases.
Before Pitt, only Bender and Freilino had competed on such a stage; the inexperience of the team questions as to how P-T would place.
The Pitt competition presents a unique case as both the A Team and B Team could compete and have roles. Because of this, P-T typically uses Pitt as a test run to give the students a feel for the competitive environment with the goal of winning not being their main mindset.
Senior Chyler Kolachinski, a second-year member of the team, stated, “Some potential disadvantages that we may face would probably be very experienced teams and preparing to deal with their lawyers, but we have pretty good lawyers to counteract that.”
Given that there were 48 teams competing and only so many hours in a day, the teams only participate in four matches and get assessed in power rankings to determine how they would place.
The A Team placed 4th out of 48 competing teams earning them a trophy and a spot in the winner’s circle amongst the three other teams that won all four matches.
Freilino explained that they should have placed even higher than they were in the top four.
“After the first match we had, they made a statistical error. It had shown that we lost by 24 points where, in actuality, we won the match by 24 points. That made our overall power ranking much lower causing us to be placed back in fourth.”
The captains agreed that placing fourth was still a fantastic accomplishment and one that would set the bar for the remainder of their season.
Mock trial season holds high hopes
A team can get as far as their ambition and diligence. This holds no exception for the mock trial team as they have diligently prepared for their season.
Over the summer, the team spent time working on a case that they intended to compete in New York. While they did not end up making the trip, the practice case was used to their advantage as it gave them a season’s worth of practice.
“We are a lot more prepared than we were last year, so I think our skills are more refined and could put us ahead of the competition,” Kolacinski added. “We practice more in general and had an extra case over the summer. It was almost like an extra year of mock trial.”
With this extra preparation, the team is doing their best to ensure that both the new and experienced members are prepared for what the season has to hold.
Bender noted that the attention to detail has been paying off.
“I am very confident in our team. We have been very detail-oriented this season as opposed to years prior and I think it will prove to be very beneficial this season,” she explained.
Because of the extra practice, the members of the team noted the confidence of the students paying off in competition.
“Everyone is very good at what they’re doing, regardless of inexperience. As they are confident in themselves, I am confident in our team’s ability to do well throughout the season,” Freilino stated.
With no detail being too small, the members of the team see Pitt as a positive sign of success for the season.
“We never go in expecting to win one of those beautiful trophies, and this year we actually won one, which was much to our surprise. We didn’t expect that at all,” added Wukich.
Fulton agreed that their early performance bodes well for the future.
“Prior to Pitt, I would have said that we were a good contender within our region, and after seeing how hard everybody’s been working and the amount of effort everyone’s been putting in, I would say we’re a good contender for states this year,” Fulton explained.
The mock trial team competed at their first regular-season match on Jan. 29 against Southmoreland at the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Results of the match were unavailable upon the print date.