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MCS wins Asia-Pacific mock trial tilt
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Posted on Nov 22 2011
By Moneth Deposa
Reporter
Reporter
Mount Carmel School’s Mock Trial Knights took first place in the 3rd Annual Asia-Pacific Invitational Mock Trial Competition recently held in Agana, Guam.
Besting seven other teams from Guam and South Korea, the team won the competition after four rounds with a perfect 4-0 win-loss record.
The champion team was composed of Anastasia Schweiger, Jimin Ryu, and Lourence Camacho playing attorneys and Andrea Manese, Victor Cabrera, Anne Gelika Elenzano, and Ginny Wu playing witnesses.
The team was coached by Mount Carmel School teacher Lou Mendiola, CNMI Legislature legal counsel Joseph L.G. Taijeron, and Public School System Board of Education member Galvin Deleon Guerrero.
The team also took home two additional awards, with Schweiger and Manese winning in the best attorney and best witness categories respectively.
Schweiger and Manese are no strangers to mock trial competition, having won similar awards in the past.
Schweiger won in the Best Performance category when she competed with the team at the 2010 National Mock Trial Competition in Philadelphia, while Manese was recognized as the top performer in the 2010 CNMI Junior High Mock Trial Competition.
“This was amazing! We couldn’t have done this without our coaches and the entire team,” said Manese, referring to the school’s Junior Varsity team that helped them prepare for the Guam competition.
Schweiger added, “To go to Guam and face off against teams from Guam and Korea was at first intimidating, but we pulled together and showed that we have what it takes to play in the big leagues.”
This year’s competition focused on bullying with a criminal case, the People of Illinois vs. Kim Dixon. In the case, Dixon is accused of reckless conduct, battery, and aggravated battery, after breaking the arm of Chris Lyman. The case also revolves around accusations that Dixon had bullied Lyman for over five years. Mount Carmel’s team played two rounds on the prosecution and two rounds on the defense.
