Throughout February, the Mission Bay High School Mock Trial team competed in the San Diego County Mock Trial Competition. They competed in a series of four rounds, culminating their performance with a third-place finish overall. A total of 38 schools participated, including several private schools and other “big names.”

In mock trial competitions, the arguments are scored by attorneys. However, a team doesn’t know if they’ve won after each trial — they only find out their score. During the semifinals, the score received by Mission Bay was the highest the team had scored during the entire competition.

But it was only at the awards ceremony that the team learned they had made the top four, and while both the prosecution and the defense presented their cases twice, only the defense advanced into the semifinals to compete against Scripps Ranch High School (which ended up finishing second).

Team advisor and Mission Bay faculty member Nathan Sheehy said, “We had a lot of support from the community.” As the team ramped up preparations, they practiced up to three times a week and included scrimmages against other school’s trial teams in their regimen as well.

The team had several stand-out members, notably Mission Bay junior Chelsea L, who received the “Most Outstanding Witness” award for the entire competition. Chelsea is part of a successful trend in the Mission Bay Mock Trial program – this year marks the third consecutive top-five finish for the team in the County competition, a streak they hope to continue in the years to come.