Mock Trial teams “The Understudies” and “Final Frontier” practiced for state finals on March 9. Vice President Jack McMurtray guides the discussion during a mock meeting.

Mock Trial team “The Understudies” met at the Marion County courthouse on March 11 and 12 for state finals. This competition decides who moves on to state championships.

Alia Karim, junior and witness for the team “The Understudies”, said she was excited for the state finals.

“Having this experience of being in a courtroom and putting on a full trial has been so fun, I’m a witness so being in character is just fun since I can spice things up” she said. “We just competed in state regions two weeks ago so the state finals are up. We had three teams for regional but in the finals we only have one team, and we have to go up against 24 other teams. There’s just heightened pressure for finals since it’s the whole state and there’s teams you have never seen before, so we just have to prep really hard.”

Jack McMurtray, Mock Trial vice president and senior, said he was disappointed when his team didn’t make state finals.

“It sucks that my team didn’t make it, but we’ve done all that we could. I do think it feels bad though, when you have a feeling of winning but then the judges don’t agree, but at least one Carmel team made it to the finals,” McMurtray said. “Law and stuff like that is still something I find interesting, it’s not like this loss is going to make me quit doing the things I like.”

During state regionals “The Understudies” placed 4th, “Boss Baby” placed 13th, “Final Frontier” placed 24th.

During state finals, the understudies placed 10th.