With the regional competition just a month away, City High’s Mock Trial program is doing everything they can to prepare and send their teams to the state competition. Last year, Mock Trial held a scrimmage inviting different teams to practice against their own. The tradition continues this year, with this Sunday, February 25th, being scheduled for a scrimmage against eight teams from other schools. 

“[Having a scrimmage] is the only way to test [our] level against other teams. Mock Trial is a very subjective activity. Having that experience of learning what other really good teams are doing will give us that little bit of an advantage when we go into regional and state competitions. I think we have five really good competitive teams. We have more experience than we had last year for sure,” Jason Schumann, a Mock Trial Coach and Sponsor, said. 

Improvement has been a consistent feeling throughout the season, from coaches and students alike. 

“I feel like our team specifically [has improved] because we’ve had more time to get to know each other and to learn how each of us work together,” Ashley Bentler ‘24, an attorney from the Senior-Junior Team, said. 

The list of schools invited includes Ankeny, Fort Madison, Marion, Robins (Xavier) and West High School. The highlight, however, is Ankeny’s attendance. It was Ankeny’s A Team that won the Mock Trial National Championship Tournament last year. Excitement is rising especially among City High’s Senior Team who scrimmaged against Ankeny last year and will again this Sunday. 

“I’m very excited for this weekend’s scrimmage against other Iowa high school teams. It’s a super exciting opportunity for our program to both host and compete against some of the best competition in the state. I’m especially looking forward to our senior team’s match up against Ankeny, who went on to win the National competition last year,” Tobey Epstein, Coach of the Senior Team and former City High student and Mock Trial participant, said. 

The scrimmage will start with the first round at 9:00 AM at City High, and will continue after lunch break with the second round starting at 1:30 PM. It is expected to end at around 3:00 PM.