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2021 Tennessee High School Mock Trial Grand Division Results
More than 60 teams competed in the Tennessee High School Mock Trial Grand Division Competition over the weekend of Feb. 18-21. Close to 600 students and more than 200 volunteers were involved, including Tennessee sitting judges, attorneys, law students and paralegals. This year, the Grand Division Competitions replaced the traditional district competitions. Here are the results of the competition:
Grand Division Champions
• East Grand Division: Chattanooga Southeast Tennessee Home Education Association (CSTHEA) 1
• Middle Grand Division: Montgomery Bell Academy 1
• West Grand Division: St. Mary’s Episcopal School 2
Second Place Teams
• East Grand Division: Girls Preparatory School 1
• Middle Grand Division: Montgomery Bell Academy 4
• West Grand Division: St. Mary’s Episcopal School 1
Third Place Teams
• East Grand Division: Girls Preparatory School 2
• Middle Grand Division: Brentwood High School 1
• West Grand Division: Westminster Academy 1
Team Sportsmanship Award
Christian Brothers High School 1 of Memphis received the Team Sportsmanship for team members’ willingness to help opposing teams experiencing technical difficulties and for their kind words to competitors.
Individual Awards
Best attorneys and witnesses also were named for each Grand Division Competition. They are:
Best Plaintiff Attorney - 1st Place
• East Grand Division: Isis Cantrell, Girls Preparatory School 1
• Middle Grand Division: Krishin Parikh, University School of Nashville
• West Grand Division: Ria Patel, St. Mary’s Episcopal School 2
Best Plaintiff Attorney - 2nd Place
• East Grand Division: Lauren Hacker, Girls Preparatory School 1
• Middle Grand Division: Larson Looney, Montgomery Bell Academy 4
• West Grand Division: Fawwaz Omer, Memphis University School
Best Plaintiff Attorney - 3rd Place
• East Grand Division: Giada Puhlman, Homelife 1
• Middle Grand Division: Marianna Eidson, Johnathon Edwards Classical School
• West Grand Division: Maggie Rosenblum, St Mary’s Episcopal School 1
Best Defense Attorney - 1st Place
• East Grand Division: Paul Atherton, CSTHEA 1
• Middle Grand Division: Sia Bakshi, Ravenwood High School
• West Grand Division: Caroline Carney, Westminster Academy 1
Best Defense Attorney - 2nd Place
• East Grand Division: Jack Williams, Webb School of Knoxville
• Middle Grand Division: Reid Smith, Montgomery Bell Academy 3
• West Grand Division: Gavi Lowell, Margolin Hebrew Academy
Best Defense Attorney - 3rd Place
• East Grand Division: Ashleigh Edwards, Unicoi County High School
• Middle Grand Division: Chanden Climaco, Montgomery Bell Academy 1
• West Grand Division: Lily Teaque, Westminster Academy 2
Best Plaintiff Witness - 1st Place
• East Grand Division: : Julia Combs, Girls Preparatory School 1
• Middle Grand Division: Jimmy Shi, Battleground Academy 1
• West Grand Division: Anjali Shah, St. Mary’s Episcopal School 2
Best Plaintiff Witness - 2nd Place
• East Grand Division: Reece Brown, L & N STEM Academy
• Middle Grand Division: K. J. Jones, Montgomery Bell Academy 4
• West Grand Division: Justin Stembridge, Christian Brothers High School 1
Best Plaintiff Witness - 3rd Place
• East Grand Division: Ben Bierly, McCallie School 1
• Middle Grand Division: Gabby Land, Hume Fogg Academic Magnet High School 2
• West Grand Division: Amar Kanakamedala, Memphis University School
Best Defense Witness - 1st Place
• East Grand Division: James Long, Knoxville Catholic 2
• Middle Grand Division: Maithreya Gowda, Montgomery Bell Academy 1
• West Grand Division: Parth Mishra, Memphis University School 2
Best Defense Witness - 2nd Place
• East Grand Division: Camille Schmied, Signal Mountain High School 1
• Middle Grand Division: Matthew Hyde, Montgomery Bell Academy 1
• West Grand Division: Elizabeth Laughlin, Westminster Academy 1
Best Defense Witness - 3rd Place
• East Grand Division: Fletcher Ard, McCallie School 2
• Middle Grand Division: Frank Pierce, Montgomery Bell Academy 3
• West Grand Division: Turner Bishop, Memphis University School 2
Teams Advancing to the State Competition March 19-21 (in alphabetical order)
• Brentwood High School 1
• Chattanooga Southeast Tennessee Home Education Association (CSTHEA) 1
• Coffee County High School
• Girls Preparatory School 1
• Girls Preparatory School 2
• Montgomery Bell Academy 1
• Montgomery Bell Academy 4
• St. Mary’s Episcopal School 1
• St. Mary’s Episcopal School 2
• Unicoi County High School
Comments from Teams & Volunteers
“I want to take a short moment of your time to thank you and everyone associated with this year’s Mock Trial competition for making this happen … Our students are a very diverse group of adolescents who have very little to look forward to in their social lives right now due to social distancing and the resulting Covid 19 restrictions. They worked very hard for this opportunity and spent many hours on Zoom preparing … On more than one occasion I dropped in unannounced and heard them talking about how much this activity helped them through the day, and to endure whatever problems they had in their lives … This year’s group has missed out on so much social activity and experienced so much negative media coverage regarding current events. This has added so much more importance to this year’s competition and ability to be able to prepare and look forward it. You and your group overcame extreme circumstances to make this happen, and are to be commended for your efforts in a most difficult time. You have been an important part of all our students lives in these unusual and stressful times. They were richly enhanced by this experience.” Team Coach
“On behalf of myself and my students, thanks for providing us the opportunity to compete this season, even if it has been most challenging. It would have been easier to simply cancel the season and that would have crushed so many of us. Mock trial may be intended as primarily an educational activity, but it serves as a positive vehicle for SO much more.” Team Coach
“Thank you for the update and for making sure the competition went on this year despite Covid. It's a fantastic experience for the kids.” Team Coach
“ Thank you for putting on outstanding competition. Huge challenge and it could not have gone better.” Attorney Scorer
“By the way, the Zoom trial could not have gone more smoothly. Excellent job by all of you!! Thanks for all you do for these kids.” Attorney Scorer