Parkway North Mock Trial Wins State Competition

On March 30, after over two days of back to back trials, the Parkway North Mock Trial team won the state competition, beating MICDS in the final round 3-2.

In order to get to the state competition “we had to be one of the top 8 schools in the St Louis region,” said Mock Trial coach Scott Nilsen, history teacher.

After two preliminary rounds, the top 24 schools from Missouri, based on wins and points earned, qualified for the regional competition. After the regional competition, the top 16 qualified for state. After another two preliminary rounds in the state competition, the top eight schools went on to compete in single elimination rounds through quarterfinals, semifinals, and finally, the final round, where Parkway North argued the side of defense in Elliot Grantham vs County of Earhart Missouri.

To get to that final round, the Parkway North Mock Trial team faced “quarterfinals against the number two seeded team, Truman; semifinals against the number three seeded team, Clayton; and finals against the number one seeded team, MICDS,” said Nilsen.

While Parkway North has done reasonably well in the state competition, placing third two years back, the team was excited not only to beat its own record, but also be named the number one team in the state.

“I was really excited [to win state]. After the trial, we didn’t think we were going to win, but we were happy to come in second. When we found out we had won, were so ecstatic,” said senior Maddie Thomas.

The mock trial team has been working towards the State competition since October. However, since each opponent uses different strategies and focuses on different aspects of the case, the team has had to continue to work at the case and change its approach when it was necessary.

“We ran things [cross examinations and direct examinations] so many times. Since the teams we were going against are really good, we had to be really prepared,” said Thomas.

After winning the State competition, the mock trial team will be attending the National competition in Madison, Wisconsin on May 8-10.

“I would like to do as well as we possibly can [in the National competition],” said Nilsen.\

By: Gianna Sparks  Centerspread Editor