On Feb. 25 and 26, Rocklin High’s junior varsity and varsity mock trial teams swept the competition in two days of weekend county trials. Varsity landed a spot in first, allowing them to move on to state, and junior varsity followed up in second place, beating Oakmont and Del Oro.

RHS has had a long-standing history of success in mock trial, but reportedly, after this latest competition, even Judge Curry who ruled the county trials said, “RHS is a powerhouse.”

Like most “powerhouse” organizations, however, there is a lot of unseen hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

“We practice three days a week… Each time we get together, and we go over objections, opening questions and the witnesses work on character inflection,” explained senior Elena Morrill, a member of the varsity mock trial prosecution team.

However, this year in particular may have carried an unspoken sense of urgency, especially on the varsity team.

“The team this year is primarily made up of seniors, so for a lot of us it’s our last time going to state… When we learned that Rocklin was going to go to state, particularly our captain, she got really emotional and I think she started to cry,” said Elena.

Senior Delaney Hertel, the captain, explained some of her and her teammate’s feelings after it was announced that they would be going to state.

“I was really excited and fairly emotional… We all pretty much leaped out of our seats in the courtroom and hugged each other, and it was great.”

With this year being Delaney’s last of four long years, she too has felt immense appreciation for her team and the experiences she has had.

“To know that I would finish out those four years with a big achievement was really awesome, and this has been, I think, the best team I’ve been on at Rocklin,” she said with a note of finality.

Fortunately, the end of this year’s trials are only the beginning for a number of budding junior varsity members, spurred on by this year’s success at the county competition.

Sophomore Alec Pitts is excited for what the future holds in his next two years on mock trial.

“I hope that we can keep going to state for the rest of my high school years, and see how many years we can get in a row,” he said.

Alec also explained that for himself and most his teammates, this year was their first on the program, and how it was impressive that they were able to become so knowledgeable in just one short year.

“It felt amazing that we were all able to learn together and use each other to grow and get better. To have such success was amazing because with hard work and determination you can do anything,” he said, a statement that obviously shone full color for both the junior varsity and varsity teams alike this year.

Clearly, today’s veteran mock trial members have set a high precedent and a program of passionate camaraderie, and the future program’s members show no signs of letting that legacy go to waste.