Stroudsburg High School’s (SHS) Mock Trial team won its state competition on Feb. 25 and 26, with all eight judges voting unanimously 8-0 at the Monroe County Courthouse.
The Prosecution team consisted of attorneys Kona Maronpot, ‘25, Arianna Vidaic, ‘26, and Layla Macedon, ‘25, and witnesses Peter Leyba, ‘25, Colton Leeth, ‘25, and Jacob Pachter, ‘27. They competed against Notre Dame and won 4-0.
The Defense team consisted of attorneys Mikaela Lipitz, ‘26, Samuel Sroka, ‘25, and Claire O’Donnell, ‘25, and witnesses Eshaal Sohail, ‘27, Connor Potochnick, ‘25, and Logan Potochnick, ‘25. They competed against Mount Pocono East and won 4-0.
The official timekeeper was Will Awuah, ‘25, but Leeth served as an alternate in place of Awuah.
The advisor of the club, Robert Wood, could not be more proud of his competing members and how well they all performed. He is amazed at how far the club has come within the last three years, from having barely 13 members to now 60.
When Wood received the call about advancing, they told him Stroudsburg’s next opponent would be Delaware Valley (Del Val).
By a coin toss via a phone call, Del Val got the first pick and chose their prosecution team to go against Stroudsburg’s Defense.
On March 3, our defense competed bravely but unfortunately lost to Del Val with a score of 4-1.
The team was able to win over one judge and lost another with 124-121, which was very close, so the score was almost 4-2.
This was admirable since Del Val dedicates a class to Mock Trial, whereas in Stroudsburg, they voluntarily meet to practice every single day.
The members of Stroudsburg’s Mock Trial team are occupied with the plethora of clubs at SHS; however, they always try to make time to study the case.
The team met on Sundays at the SHS in order to strengthen their group performance, and when that felt like it was not enough, they coordinated phone calls and Zoom meetings to “tie up loose ends.”
The Mock Trial team getting this far into the competition is still a noteworthy accomplishment since the team has not won a trial like this ever, and they haven’t gotten this far in the competition in at least the past six years and assumably a lot more.
A few members were so memorable during the competition that they deserve a shoutout, Wood recalled.
O’Donnell’s opening both times was fantastic, and Maronpot, in Prosecution, did an amazing job taking notes throughout the trial, and during his closing, he summed up everything that the other team argued and stated how they didn’t prove what they set out to prove.
The judges praised his abilities and skills by saying they had never seen anyone tailor their argument so well to a case.
During the Prosecution’s trial, Vidaic cross-examined her witness and got him to admit that he was at a certain place when his alibi was that he didn’t know where he was.
She learned, “The outcome of my cross-examination victory has taught me that hard work, dedication, and commitment is a pathway to realizing your goals. ”
It was a pivotal moment for her, and her teammates were very proud.
Pachter, a witness for the Prosecution team, surprised everyone with his performance and hopes to be an attorney next year.
He recollected the day of the competition, “I feel pretty good about my performance. I was nervous about competing because I’d never done it before, but when I got up to the stand I just stayed calm and everything went well, and at the end I got the “Best Witness Award”.
From Defense, Sohail stepped up to the occasion. She was stunning during her first trial and professionally played her role as a witness. She revealed, “I felt great honestly I never expected to make it that far and I know that we’ll do even better next year against Delaware Valley!”
Wood commented that all the kids had great leadership this year, and because of the tremendous amount of seniors, with the only experienced students returning being Lipitz and Vidaic, he will be expecting many newcomers to fill their places next year.
Make sure to check out SHS’s Mock Trial team next school year!
