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Luverne’s Mock Trial Team earned an eighth-place finish at the state Mock Trial competition March 3-4 at the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul.
Twelve teams qualified for the two-day competition.
Deb Schandelmeier and attorney Jeff Haubrich coach the team.
“I’m proud of them,” Haubrich said. “It’s a big commitment and their results really show how much they put into it.”
This is the second year Luverne advanced to the state level as winners of Region 5. In 2015 the team finished tenth out of 12 teams.
“It was really a great experience,” said junior Dylan Thorson, who was also a member of the 2015 team. “We really wanted to do better than last year.”
Luverne met St. Peter High School in Round 1.
Thorson said the team started out slow during the first round with the team performing better in Round 2 against Sartell. Round 3 was against Woodbury.
St. Peter finished ninth, Sartell, 12th, and Woodbury, seventh. Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul won the competition.
Team standings were released Monday. Individual standings were released later this week.
At Friday’s banquet, two students were recognized for their state performances.
Junior Knute Oldre was named an All-State Attorney and senior Hannah Hoogland earned All-State Witness honors. This is the second year Oldre and Hoogland have been recognized.
Each team participant is scored on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. Thorson said an average performance is about a 6 to 7 with scores of 8 or higher harder to earn.
The 18-member team will graduate five seniors this spring: Tatiana Gust, Hannah Hoogland, Mira Uithoven, Susan Thomson and Kaitlyn Roberts.
“I have 12 other team members who could possibly return, bit I never know until the next season begins,” Schandelmeier said.
“This year’s team was focused and professional and did a great job. I was very proud of them, not only how they performed, but how well they represented Luverne,” she added.
This year’s case was based on the real-life kidnapping that took place in 1933. The Minnesota case focused on the kidnapping of Wilhelmina Hamm. The case was the first in the country in which fingerprint comparison was used to obtain criminal conviction.