Palo Alto High School’s Mock Trial team placed 10th in the state finals at Riverside this weekend, after winning three out of the four trials in the case of The People vs. Kendall, and losing the second round by only two points out of 700.

"Our kids were fabulous," said Mock Trial coach and Social Studies teacher Suzanne Stewart. "They performed very very well … They should be proud of themselves."

Since the beginning of the school year, the team has been practicing at least once a week at lunch and holding full court scrimmages on the weekends. Everything was leading up to this competition. Although they will not be going on to Nationals in North Carolina, the team members are pleased with their performance.

The 20 students who attended the State Finals in Southern California were split into two sides: the defense and the prosecution. They were then matched up against one of 34 teams, in four different trials.

"We did actually very well," said sophomore Carissa Caryotakis, a prosecution witness. "The system was kind of screwed up. After the second trial we went up against people who weren’t good, but if we had won the second trial we would have competed with a better team in the third and fourth rounds, and would have placed higher."

The team lost to San Bernardino County in the second trial on Friday by just a two percent margin. San Bernardino went on to the final round against the Marin County team from Tamalpias High School, which ended up winning State and going on to Nationals.

"It’s like a sport," Stewart said. "You give 1000 percent and then it’s all over… It’s the nature of competition."

Stewart does not know her plans for next year, but hopes she will continue coaching Mock Trial. "I really enjoy working with the kids," Stewart said.

Social Studies teacher Grant Blackburn and former Los Angeles Judge Chesly McKay also accompanied the team to Riverside. According to defense witness senior Charles Vickery, the competition was extremely close, but the team thought they did well.

"The evidence can go either way," Vickery said. "The hard part, especially for the prosecution, is using it strategically."

In this particular case, The People vs. Kendall, the defendant Darian Kendall was on trial for driving at excessive speed and manslaughter. The team received the particulars of the case in October and has met at least once a week to prepare for the final trials at State.

According to Stewart, most members of the team had some of their best performances at State. "Every single person did their part," she said. The judging attorneys, who score prosecution and defense members’ performances, are often subjective, according to Vickery.

"The judging attorneys value different styles," Vickery said. "So some give you high scores and some give you a low score."

The team realizes these discrepancies in scoring and therefore remains positive about the performance at State, and throughout the year. While seniors Daniel Sheehan, Todd Schulman, and Charles Vickery will not be returning to Mock Trial next year, they are optimistic about next year’s team.

"They’re going to be awesome," Vickery said.

Despite the unfortunate results of State Finals, Paly’s Mock Trial team proved they could dominate Santa Clara County, as well as many other counties in California, and overall had a successful year.

"The team had a good year," Stewart said. "They certainly can hold their heads up [after the disappointment at State Finals], because they represented the county very well."