The Talawanda High School varsity mock trial team swept the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education regional mock trial competition on Feb. 17 to qualify for the state championship on March 7. 

“At the district level, there was a clear difference in skill. Moving into regionals and the state competition, I can only wonder if our level and skill will hold up,” senior Lily Franks, prosecution closing attorney for Talawanda Team Two, said before the regional competition. 

Talawanda sponsored two teams this year. Both competed in the district and regional competitions, but only the varsity team qualified for the state championship.

This is the fourth consecutive year Talawanda has sent at least one team to the state championship. The school won the OCRE Trial State Championship in 2022 and was runner-up in 2023.

Mock trial is an academic sport in which students participate in an original, unscripted simulate trial written by attorneys. High school teams make arguments for both sides of the case in courtrooms across the state by local county judges. There are three rounds of competition including districts, regional and state.. 

Amanda Weatherwax, an AP English teacher who has overseen Talawanda’s program for 15 years, said mock trials are a real-world application of the lessons she teaches in the classroom.

“I teach rhetoric all the time, and in mock trials, we give it a practical application,” Weatherwax said. “This sport is all about understanding legal jargon and forming persuasive arguments.”

Muhammed Khan, a senior on the varsity team who has competed in mock trial for four years, said it was possible to rehearse so much that you start to sound robotic. 

“The key is to trust in your team, and not let yourself get worked up or worry too much on the little things,” Khan said. “But at the end of the day we are all here to just have fun.”