Oak Park High School’s “black” Mock Trial team secured their spot into the Ventura County finals for the second year in a row on Feb. 8. In the final round against Trinity Pacific school they earned the second place spot. 

Before the final trial against Trinity Pacific Christian School, the team was excited, proud and nervous about their chances. 

“Trinity has gone to nationals many times so were a little nervous about the competition,” sophomore Hansika Sanguraju said. “But our team worked very hard and although we didn’t win first place, we are proud of ourselves for making it so far. ”

Junior and mock trial clerk Ayush Natarajan agreed with the sentiment and was happily surprised when they found out they made it to the finals. 

“It was a pleasant surprise,” Natarajan said. “But we’ve worked hard over the past couple of months and it was definitely a team effort to get us to the finals.”

OPHS’ “gold” team did not make it to the top 8 but are still proud of how far they came.

“When we found out we didn’t make it to the top 8, we were a little bummed at first,” said freshman Ankkita Karthik. “But we are really proud of the black team and we are really proud of ourselves. Even if our team didn’t win, we’ve worked very hard and I think that shows. The black team really deserves this spot and we are really happy for them and how far they made it.”