March 22nd through March 24th was this year’s state finals for California Mock Trial teams. For the 7th year in a row, Rocklin High School attended to represent Placer county.

Overall, Rocklin High placed 24th at the competition.

Given the stressful week  before the competition, the team and coaches came to the conclusion that it was okay if they did not win the entire competition.

“Mock trial at the state level pushes you further than you ever thought you could perform. The audience and presence of judges and attorneys that work for the state of California is an adrenaline rush. [It] forces you to know the case like the back of your hand.” – Cheyenne Anderson (prosecution attorney)

The team went against some other great schools, 1 of them even making it to the top 8.

However, the matchups provided by CRF got very messy. The round four trials, which were supposed to start around 5pm, ended up starting around 8pm.

CRF’s handling of the situation was absolutely atrocious.

First, they posted on their Instagram, 30 minutes after round 3 was supposed to start, that matchups would be posted in 30-45 minutes. This was of course frustrating because trials usually start an hour after matchups are posted.

However, the most frustrating thing is probably how CRF didn’t actually post the matchups for another couple hours after the first post.

When they did post the matchups, they were handwritten on a piece of binder paper. Typically they are neatly typed on a spreadsheet. CRF actually had to take down the original matchup posts because the handwriting was so sloppy.

The matchups were also posted in strange increments, so some teams had to wait longer than others.

Due to the matchups being posted so late, many trials (including Rocklin’s) only had one scoring judge. This of course led to miscalculations in scores.

The student social (dance) that was supposed to be 3 hours, was only about 1.5 hours due to the trials ending so late.

The finalists were also announced at the dance. However, due to the miscalculations of rounds 3 and 4, one of the teams announced for the finals was wrong. This was brought to everyone’s attention extremely late at night over Instagram, the night before the championship trial.

Members from every team started talking in the comment section of CRF’s posts. It involved everything from making new friends, making jokes about the case, and even organizing a dance party on the second floor of the courthouse.

While the wait was not exactly ideal, it’s highly unlikely that there is ever going to be a big teenage dance party on the second floor of the Sacramento courthouse ever again.

Even though the student social at the Holiday Inn did not last as long as it was supposed to, a lot of students still went and had fun.

The California Mock Trial state competition definitely had its complications, but it’s not something you can experience in any other extracurricular activity.