On March 16-18, Manual’s two Mock Trial teams took home second place at the state tournament at the downtown courthouse. 32 high school teams came from all over Kentucky to compete. 

At the end of the day Saturday, the A-team found out they had made it to the finals, but lost Sunday at the final tournament to Montgomery County. Amanda Allen (12), Tara Blincoe (12), Ellen Everett (12), Maggie Heine (12), Cate Heine (10), Nadia Almasalhki (10), and Alangoya Tezel (10) are all members of the A-team.

Members of the B-team didn’t make it to the finals. The members of that team are Akhila Ankem (12), Marissa Booker (9), Virginia Call (9), Zoe Cook (11), Ayrin Cooke (10), Davis Hale (10), and Peyton Walker (10).

Throughout the tournament, however, the teams were not able to know how they were doing. “You really don’t know how you are doing, except you can kind of tell by the level of your opponents: they keep getting harder,” coach Patrick Stevenson (Germany) said.

However, the teams enjoyed the level of commitment and support they received from Mr. Stevenson. “Stevenson was the driving force for the teams,” Peyton Walker (10) said. “He was more than just a coach. We didn’t really have parents come out to our competition, but Stevenson was there to cheer us on and give us very valuable insight.”