On Thursday, March 6, WHS’s mock trial team defeated Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School with a score of 98-89, qualifying them for the “Elite Eight” round of the Massachusetts Bar Association High School Mock Trial Program’s championship bracket.

“They had a couple of attorneys that raised a lot of objections and really forced us to get outside our comfort zone. We were forced to respond to objections we hadn’t had much experience with before,” said Nat Gordon, whose role is a direct attorney for the plaintiff.

This victory marks the second consecutive year that the WHS mock trial team has reached the “Elite Eight” round.

“Our preparation process hasn’t changed much from last year, but I think we’ve done more work on performance this year, which has really helped,” co-captain and cross attorney Katherine Wang said. “To work on performance, we run through our examinations so that we can practice speaking in front of a crowd and acting like real lawyers or adopting our characters as witnesses.”

Last year, WHS lost to Region Three winners Marshfield High School in the “Elite Eight” bracket, and Wayland will face them again on Tuesday at the Norfolk Probate and Family Court. If WHS wins, they will advance to the “Final Four” stage, in which they will compete against one of the other top four teams in Massachusetts.

“Obviously, there’s a sense of intimidation because we know firsthand that Marshfield is a very good team, but we feel very confident in both sides, and I know that all of the returning members really want this one to prove that we can beat these guys and take the extra step we weren’t able to take last year,” Gordon said.