Published Tuesday, March 18, 2008 5:29 PM
Updated Tuesday, March 18, 2008 5:31 PM
Berkeley student Benjamin Pollins faces his teammates, donning special t-shirts exemplifying the case in the mock trial competition.
BHS mock trial team takes to the nationals
Many sports teams would give their home playing field to have eight state championships – five since 2000 – on their record. But that record doesn’t belong to a basketball, football or baseball team. It belongs to the Berkeley High School Mock Trial team.
Composed of 13 students, the team is fresh off its win at the state level. Around the corner on March 31, the students will trek to Wilmington, Del., for the national competition.
Coaches Babs Warner, Jack Landis and Kelli Antes lead the team. Antes jokingly calls them “brains, brawn and paperwork,” respectively.
Santee Cooper associate general counsel Warner acts as in-house counsel for the team, Family Court Judge Landis poses as a judge, and Berkeley High U.S. history teacher Antes keeps the team on track.
Berkeley High students who participated in 2008 State Championship team include: Caitlyn Bailey, Kayla Biller, Jessica Bryant, Skyler Carr, Sara Carter, Jessica Hodges, Thomas Horton, Melissa Anne Jackson, Jane Landis, Amanda NeSmith, Ben Pollins, Daniel Prohaska and Cooper West.
“We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had year after year of good kids,” Jack Landis said. “The secret to winning is getting good kids.”
The team’s momentum has hardly slowed since losing six seniors in 2006, when it was ranked No. 7 in the national competition.
This year’s team is comprised of three seniors, one of whom is Jack Landis’ daughter, Jane. For Jane, the upcoming nationals will be her first time and, for senior Jessica Bryant, it will be her second.
Jane Landis is the first South Carolina high school student to participate on state mock trial championship team three years in a row. She has won three individual awards at the state competition, including two best witness awards and one best lawyer award.
Sara Carter, a sophomore, has won two best lawyer awards and sophomore Benjamin Pollins won a best witness award.
South Carolina’s mock trial competitors are fierce. Two South Carolina teams have come home with the national championship on two separate occasions. Earlier this year, 14 teams vied for the national spotlight.
Forty-six eight-person teams will represent most U.S. states, Guam and South Korea at the national competition on March 31.
Lindsay Street is a staff writer for The Independent. Contact her at 572-0511 or lstreet@berkeleyind.com.