| Mock Trial team earns state berth |
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Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2010 5:43 pm
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ST. PETER — A relatively inexperienced but talented group of students from St. Peter High School have earned a berth in the Minnesota State Mock Trial Tournament by defeating a team from Sleepy Eye on Thursday (Feb. 25) in the regional finals.
“We have all been working and practicing hard and are very excited to represent St. Peter High School at the Mock Trial state competition,” Beth Hilligoss, St. Peter’s team captain, said.
The Minnesota Mock Trial State event, which is sponsored by the Minnesota State Bar Association, will take place March 9 and 10 at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis.
Team members include senior Beth Hilligoss, juniors Amber Page, Maddie Baskfield and Seth Rausch; 10th graders Anissa Johnson, Megan Kaufmann, Carl Miller, Jacob Iveland, Marie Annexstad and Katelyn Pankratz and 9th graders Kelly Hilligoss and Hannah Rasmussen. Coaches for the team include teacher coach John Warren; attorney coaches Krystal Pierce, James Dunn, Linda Hilligoss and Judge Allison Krehbiel; and team bus driver/#1 fan/good luck charm Larry Friedrichs.
“The mock trial team started last year after a several year absence from competition and our team members were new and had no experience,” Linda Hilligoss, one of the St. Peter team’s coaches, said. “The kids have worked extremely hard and have dedicated a lot of time and energy into learning not only their positions, but rules of court and procedure as well as the rules of evidence.
“All of these concepts are difficult to learn and apply, even for law school graduates. The attorney coaches and teacher coach are all extremely proud of them.”
According to Dunn, mock trial begins in October of each year when the Minnesota Bar Association releases the case materials for teams to learn. The case materials provide a fictional case that the students use to develop their own theories and arguments. The case materials consist of witness affidavits, the rules of competition, exhibits, and the rules of evidence.
“We’ve been working since October and we average two practices per week,” Dunn said. “Our practices are held at the Nicollet County Courthouse. This is my second year of mock trial with this team. Last year we made it to the regional championship round and this year we won the region and are going to the state competition.
“Last year, we started with the minimum of eight students and now we’ve increased our numbers up to 12. It’s our hope that we can continue to enjoy success and get more and more students each year to become part of our team.
“Working with the students is great. They definitely have worked hard this year and deserve to be going to the state competition. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
St. Peter Mock Trial
Results
Feb. 25 (Regional at Blue Earth County Justice Center) - St. Peter 205, Sleepy Eye 201.
Feb. 17 - St. Peter 229, Sleepy Eye Blue Team 192 (at Brown County Courthouse).
Feb. 2 - St. Peter 238, New Ulm 192 (at Renville County Courthouse).
Jan. 27 - St. Peter 220, Madelia 214 (at Brown County Courthouse).
Jan. 19 - St. Peter 214, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 188 (at Renville County Courthouse).
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