Past State Champions

Placed 3rd at the National High School Mock Trial Competitions in Boise, Idaho!
Nova Classical Academy, a K-12 charter school in St. Paul and this year’s state mock trial champion, took third place at the 2016 high school National Mock Trial Tournament on May 14. Seniors Caroline Behling-Hess, Mary Clare Burke, Sophia Cherif, Ignasi Dorca, Hannah Hoefs, Liam Magistad, Anya Magnuson, and Luke Westawker ran an undefeated 2016 season, winning a total of 15 trials, four of them at the national tournament in Boise, Idaho.The team bested its fourth-place finish last year, this time missing the final championship round on a tie-breaker with the two finalist teams. For Behling-Hess, Dorca and Magistad, it was their second year in a row of competition at the National Tournament. The team was coached by three attorney coaches, Scott Jurchisin, Joshua Peterson, and Collin Tierney, as well as Nova alumna Liza Michaeli and faculty adviser Don Burrows.  This year marked the third time in four years that the school has won the state mock trial championship, and its third-place showing at nationals is the highest performance to date.

Minnesota teams have placed in the top 12 for 8 years in a row, including a champion, a runner-up, and two third place finishers. No other state has done as well.  

Nova Classical Academy placed 4th in the nation at the 2015 National High School Mock Trial Championships in Raleigh, NC, after preliminary competitions against South Korea, Hawaii, Ohio, and Massachusetts.  For the second time in three years, Nova’s team earned the highest speaker point total of any at the championship.

Captained by senior Margaret Flynn Sapia and junior Liam Magistad,  the team includes Caroline Behling-Hess, Ignasi Dorca, Ben Garcia, Chloe Kirk, Nicolas LaFrombois, and Olivia Shaffer.

Special congratulations to junior Liam Magistad who was named an Outstanding Witness, a designation awarded to only ten students in the country.

The Breck Mock Trial team is a serendipitous mixture of newcomers and experienced players this year. Newcomers include senior Peter Metzger, a crossover witness who played Gale Storm and Tracy Peterson, Jenn Fabian, who was the closing attorney for the Plaintiff, Brennan Clark, who played, Giffy O'Brien, and timekeeper/bailiff Maryam Ali.  Returning team members include team captains Jack Sheehy, Nicole Miller and Eve Zelickson (who won the best attorney award), Lorelei Lange, Carter Roland and Simon Parish, who won best witness for his portrayal of Stacy Clark.  The team is coached by Peter Saunders, Ross M. Hussey, Esq., and Jeffrey  S. Paulsen, Esq. This is Breck School's 4th State Title.

The Honorable James Dehn received the 2014 NHSMTC Justice Gene Franchini Golden Gavel Award on May 10, 2014 in Madison, WI. This award recognizes any adult individual who has demonstrated exemplary dedication and commitment to the goals and ideals of the national high school mock trial program.  

Nova Classical Academy team is presented with a $2000.00 check from Academy of Certified Trial Lawyers of Minnesota (ACTLM). Press Release - Nova Classical Academy

"Making Their Case" - Article for Lakeview High School (Marshall Independent)

The Breck Mock Trial Team captured third place at the 2012 National High School Mock Trial championships. Forty-six teams from 42 different states (2 teams from New Mexico), plus Guam, South Korea, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, competed in the two-day tournament. Breck beat teams from Alaska, Kentucky, California, and Idaho. Despite just missing the finals by one ballot, Breck was the only team at the tournament to have an undefeated season! One member of their team was named an All-American Outstanding Witness; a distinction awarded to only the top 5% of witnesses in the tournament.

Archived State Rankings