Mt. Carmel School is 2012 Mock Trial champion

Mount Carmel School emerged as this year’s champion of the CNMI High School Mock Trial Competition held last Friday at the Guma Hustisia.

The seven-member group bested defending champion Marianas Baptist Academy in an intense final round that lasted past 7pm Friday.

Victor Manuel Cabrera, Lourence Jason Camacho, Anne Gelika Elenzano, Andrea Grace Manese, Ji Min Ryu, Anastasia Rose Schweiger, and Dominic Travilla will be the Commonwealth’s representatives to the national high school mock trial tilt to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico from May 3 to 6.

This year’s championship was the fourth for MCS, which also won the same recognition and advanced to the national contest in 2010, 2008, and in 1999.

The team’s coaches include Galvin Deleon Guerrero, Lourdes Mendiola, and Atty. Joseph Deleon Guerrero Taijeron Jr.

In November last year, the MCS mock trial team was also hailed champion of the 3rd Annual Asia-Pacific Invitational Mock Trial Competition in Agana, Guam where they bested seven other teams from Guam and South Korea.

Members of the MCS mock trial team said Friday that the honor although unexpected was very fulfilling.

“Before it was announced, we coaches were talking to the members telling them that win or lose, we’re just so proud of the team for working so hard and performing so well. We went over the years to never expect anything [on the competition]. We just hope for the best and always expect the worse,” Deleon Guerrero told Saipan Tribune.

Since the school year opened in September, the MCS Mock Trial Knights-which is composed of 13 junior and high school students-have been preparing for the competition. Their participation in the Guam mock trial event was one of the coaches’ ways to better practice and enhance the skills of members.

Asked what’s their secret, Deleon Guerrero answered, “Team work, team work. We have our junior high and high school members and we treated everybody as one team. We trained and treated our junior members like we trained the high school team. So for us, cultivating that long-term foundation is important.”

He promised to give the group’s best in the upcoming national contest, as they always did in the previous events.

This is the fifth year in a row that MBA and MCS faced each other in the competition’s final round. “We always trained so hard for them and we thank MBA because they make us a better team,” added Deleon Guerrero.

Andrea Grace Manese, who played the role of both prosecution and defense witness, said all their hard work paid off.

Although she is excited to be in the national tilt, she admits that the team has to work extra hard to best represent the CNMI in the highest level of the competition. Manese has been in the team since seventh grade.

Anastasia Rose Schweiger said she’s just so proud of the group and thankful to the guidance and sacrifices of their coaches whom she said had poured in a lot of time and effort to best train all the members. “We’re not expecting to win but honestly, we prayed so hard and tried our best. It really feels good to win this again,” she told Saipan Tribune, adding that she’s looking forward to another good experience in the national event. Schweiger was also selected the competition’s best defense attorney.

One of the team’s defense and prosecution witness, Victor Cabrera, said the win was all worth it. He lauded the good performance of opposing teams which he said, made the event more exciting and challenging for the members. Like other members, this year marked Cabrera’s fourth year in the mock trial competition and the first time to be in the national tilt.

Runner-up, individual awards

MBA was hailed as this year’s runner-up and the recipient of the Supreme Court Professionalism Award. The group includes Kenny Sung Eun An, Jodel Fernandez, Se Young Hwang, Dong Hee Im, Young Eun Lee, Manatsu Omori, Eunice Park, and Han Sol Yu. Their coaches are teacher Paul Murphy and attorneys Jennifer Dockter and Adam Hardwicke.

Recipients of the individual awards are MCS’ Anastasia Rose Schweiger as best defense attorney; Marianas High School’s Deveney Dela Cruz as best prosecution attorney; Tinian Jr. & Sr. High School’s Kyle Sanbergen and Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Jr. & Sr. High School’s Austin Delos Santos as best defense witnesses; and MHS’ Mike Johnson as best prosecution witness.

A first-timer to the contest, Austin Delos Santos said he was surprised to bag the recognition and shared the victory with his team members for representing their best for their school.

“I want to share this award with my team members and our coaches because without their sacrifices, this is not possible for me. I am very nervous throughout the competition and I am also proud that I made it. This is my first time in the mock trial and I will cherish this experience in my life,” said Delos Santos who will be graduating this school year.

Mock trial is a scholastic competition between both public and private schools throughout the CNMI. It started in 1999 by the CNMI Bar Association and former Justice Ramon Villagomez as a way to further the understanding and appreciation of the judicial system.