Author: thomscher

Last night, Menlo Mock Trial competed in the semi-final round of the San Mateo County Mock Trial Competition. Menlo came out on top in two separate trials against South City, with our prosecution and defense teams earning strong wins. This pair of wins brings Menlo’s current county streak to 68 straight wins, dating back to the start of the 2011 season.

In the other semi-final, Crystal Springs played San Mateo. Crystal’s prosecution lost to San Mateo, but their defense was able to win by a large enough margin for them to advance to the Championship Round. This will be Crystal’s first time in the Championship Trial, setting up a rematch against Menlo (which Menlo won in Round 3 of the competition).

The Championship Round is tonight, February 16th. Menlo is attempting to bring its county streak to 70 wins in a row, its county championship streak to 7 in a row, and its overall total of county titles to 9. Whichever team wins tonight will advance to the CRF State Championships, held in Riverside in March.

Last week Menlo Mock Trial had another two trials for JV and Varsity, in Round 3 of San Mateo County Competition. This final night of preliminary county rounds was a huge success, with Menlo winning all four of its trials.

At the Junior Varsity level, Menlo’s prosecution team defeated Notre Dame and then Menlo’s defense team won over Carlmont. This extends our Junior Varsity’s county record to 12-0, dating to last year’s inception of the JV program. Menlo finished in 1st place, successfully defending their JV title. The final percent win for Menlo’s JV program was 629.92%, with a distant second place of 611.87% for Hillsdale.

At the Varsity level, Menlo’s prosecution won its trial against Crystal Springs. The defense then beat Carlmont in a hard-fought round against a team that continues to improve year after year. These two wins extend Menlo’s undefeated county streak to 66 straight, dating back to the first round of 2011. MMT’s wins qualify them for the playoffs for the 13th year in a row. The team sits in 1st place overall, and will face South City in the semi-final round on Wednesday, February 15th. The other semi-final will pit San Mateo against Crystal Springs, as Hillsdale’s impressive and record-setting 24 year streak of playoff appearances came to an end. The winners of the semi-final will face off in the Championship Round on Thursday, February 16th, with a bid to the State Championships on the line.

Last night Menlo Mock Trial had another two trials for JV and Varsity, in Round 2 of San Mateo County Competition. Another night of county, and 4 more wins made Round 2 a successful night overall.

At the Junior Varsity level, Menlo’s prosecution team defeated Carlmont and then Menlo’s defense team won over Notre Dame. This extends our Junior Varsity’s county record to 10-0, dating to last year’s inception of the JV program. Menlo is in 1st place heading into the third and final round of the JV competition as they seek to defend their JV title.

At the Varsity level, Menlo’s prosecution won its first trial against Notre Dame while also earning the highest score so far in the competition. The defense then beat Aragon in a hard-fought round. These two wins extend Menlo’s undefeated county streak to 64 straight, dating back to the first round of 2011. MMT sits in first place as they head into the final two trials of preliminary rounds next week, and will face the teams currently seated in the 2nd and 3rd place spots. Extra congratulations to Ishani, Natalia, Rishi, Mia, and the Prosecution Team for perfect scoring.

Both teams are back in action next week, on February 9th.

Last week, Menlo Mock Trial kicked off its CRF County Competition with 4 strong wins.

At the Junior Varsity level, MMT came out blazing in pursuit of a 2nd consecutive title. The prosecution team beat Hillsdale, and the defense team beat San Mateo. This extends our Junior Varsity’s county record to 8-0, dating to last year’s inception of the JV program.

At the Varsity level, MMT began its pursuit of a 7th consecutive title, 9th overall, and a return trip to the State Championship. The prosecution first defeated Hillsdale in a rematch of last year’s championship trial. The defense then won a hard-fought trial over Serra. These two wins extend the Varsity team’s undefeated county streak to 62, dating back to 2010. Extra congratulations are in order for Toni (Clerk), Ashli (Pre-Trial), Mia (Bailiff), and Prosecution Team for perfect scores.

Both teams are back in action on Thursday, February 2nd.

Congratulations to both teams from Menlo School on stellar finishes at the NorCal Mock Trial Invitational, hosted at Menlo School!

Menlo A had two very strong preliminary round performances, beating Miramonte and Prospect in order to qualify for the quarterfinals with a perfect 8-0 ballot record. In the quarterfinals, the team beat Moreau Catholic to qualify for the quarterfinals. The next day the team won in a very close round to against Tamalpais before losing in the championship trial to Trinity Pacific and finishing 2nd place overall.

Menlo B started the tournament with a win over Moreau Catholic and a split-decision loss to Elk Grove. The team barely missed out on quarterfinals, and in the third round lost to eventual 4th place finisher Shasta. In Round 4 the team beat Prospect, and in the 5th round the team beat Miramonte. Menlo B finished in 11th place overall.

Individual awards went to multiple Menlo students as well. For Menlo A, Colton Conley finished 5th place for defense attorneys, Ishani Thakur finished 3rd for prosecution pre-trial attorneys, Anika Padwekar finished 3rd for her Officer West portrayal, Natalia Cordon finished 1st for her Greyjoy portrayal (and ranked first in the whole tournament among witnesses), Toni Rende finished 3rd as clerk, and Mia Rosenblatt finished 2nd as bailiff. For Menlo B, Ethan Yan finished 3rd for defense pre-trial attorneys, and Vivian Liu finished 2nd for her portrayal of Frey. Tiffany Tam (prosecution trial attorney), Claire Horsley (Awbrey), Melody Zhou (Blake), and Ashli Jain (defense pre-trial) all picked up honorable mention awards for Menlo A as well.

After a weekend trip to Santa Barbara for a few final scrimmages, the two teams will be back in action for the San Mateo County Competition starting January 26th.

This past weekend, Menlo Mock Trial was in Denver competing in its sixth straight Providence Cup Tournament. For the 6th straight year, Menlo qualified for the championship round, and for the 3rd straight year (and 5th year overall) MMT came home as Providence Champions.

Menlo’s team, arguing a fictionalized version of the JFK assassination, was comprised of 9 students: Colton Conley, Makayla Conley, Katie Guardino, Claire Horsley, Jacob Julian-Kwong, Amrita Misha, Anika Padwekar, Ben Shaw and Tiffany Tam. The team was coached by Thom Scher, Susan Hoerger, Carrie Adkins, and faculty sponsor Dan Devitt.

In the first round of the tournament, Menlo’s defense defeated Grandview of Colorado. In the second round, Menlo’s prosecution defeated American Heritage of Florida in a rematch of last year’s championship trial – the American Heritage squad wound up finishing 6th place this year. In the third round, Menlo’s defense beat Faith Lutheran of Nevada (the defending NV State Champions, and National 9th place team) who wound up finishing 4th. In the fourth round, Menlo’s prosecution beat Lakewood of Colorado (the defending CO State Champions, and National 14th place team) who wound up finishing 3rd. In the championship trial, Menlo’s defense defeated Regis Jesuit of Colorado (the CO 2nd place team from last year). All-in-all, Menlo’s path to its 5th Providence Cup ran through 2 defending state champions, and the eventual 6th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place teams.

Menlo is 27-3 all-time at the Providence Tournament, and has not lost a round of the competition in 15 straight trials. The team also extends its win streak outside of CA to 18 straight, extending back to Round 2 of the 2014 National Championships.

Next up, the MMT squad will begin preparing the CA case, People v. Awbrey.

Earlier this month, MMT competed at the second annual Gladiator One-on-One Mock Trial Tournament in Newport Beach where they took home the championship trophy.

The Gladiator Tournament is the world’s only one-on-one high school mock trial competition, and Menlo School was well represented with three competitors out of a field of 40 from around the globe. The field comprised numerous prior state, national, and world champions competing for the title of best individual mock trial competitor in the world. Menlo’s participants included Andy Parker ’16, Colton Conley ’17, and Lee Fisher ’17; the group was coached by Thom Scher.

The Gladiator Tournament, now in its second year, features five grueling rounds, pitting the best competitors head-to-head against one another. To prepare, Menlo students practiced daily for four weeks starting at the beginning of summer in anticipation of the demanding two-day schedule. Over the four weeks, the team was supported by additional coaches, MMT alumni, other teammates, and community volunteers.

After finishing as a runner up last year, Andy returned to the championship trial and won by a 6-1 margin in the championship round. Lee finished ninth, and Colton—also returning for his second year—finished 11th while being recognized with the third best attorney performance in the entire tournament. Both Lee and Colton finished with winning records and special recognition at the awards ceremony.

The case this year was named People v. Parker Jones, named in honor of last year’s two finalists (Menlo’s Andy Parker and Santa Susana’s Megan Jones); the witness characters were Emory Winkle and Tatum Scher, named in honor of the head coaches from Trinity Pacific and Menlo School (Sarah Winkle and Thom Scher). In a fun turn of events, this setup a final round where Andy had to defend a client with his own name, and direct a witness with his coach’s name.

The Gladiator results continue Menlo School’s reputation as one of the top mock trial programs in the country. The team is the six-time defending San Mateo County Champion, where they have not lost a round of competition in six years. Menlo’s team is the only team in California to receive a statewide ranking for the last five years in a row, and they finished second in California in 2015. The program features a JV and Varsity team, each coached by a crew of volunteer professionals who dedicate hundreds of hours each year.

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