(Oklahoma City – March 5, 2008) Holland Hall High School’s team earned seventh place in the Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Competition. Del City’s Christian Heritage Academy won the championship and will represent Oklahoma in the national competition to be held in Wilmington, Del., in May.

The mock trial program involves students portraying attorneys and witnesses in a courtroom setting, with judges and attorneys evaluating their performance. The program, now in its 28th year, is sponsored by the Oklahoma Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the Oklahoma Bar Foundation.

OBA President Bill Conger of Oklahoma City said, “Holland Hall was among just eight teams to make it to the semifinal round. Reaching that round is quite an achievement and reflects the hard work of the students and their coaches. 

Holland Hall High School’s team was coached by teacher Paige Arnold and its attorney coach David Guten. Returning for a fourth year on the team was Xavier Doolittle. Third-year team member was Julie Crawford. Second-year team member was Allie Harjo. New to the team were Connor Barnhart, Kelsey Birkes, Julia Boese, Seth Bourdeau, Ian Campbell, John Christner, Tony Daza, Christian Ewing, Nicholas Foster and Chris Marshall.

Out of the 51 teams that began competing in January, the top finishers are, in second place, Clinton High School; third, Ada High School; fourth, Jenks High School; fifth, Catoosa High School; sixth, Atoka High School; and eighth, Broken Arrow High School.

Judge Edward Cunningham served as presiding judge during the contest finals. Scoring judges were Judge Daman Cantrell, Judge Kenneth Dickerson, Judge David B. Lewis, Judge Millie Otey and Judge Dana L. Rasure.

More than 400 judges and attorneys volunteered their time to work with mock trial teams as coaches and to conduct the competitions. Rachel McCombs of Oklahoma City served as chairperson of the Young Lawyers Division Mock Trial Committee.