MANCHESTER WEST High School, a longtime competitor in the NH Bar Association's Mock Trial Competition, won its first state Mock Trial title after the final round of competition on Saturday, March 24 at Hillsborough County Superior Court-North in Manchester. The competition is sponsored by the New Hampshire Bar Association's Law-Related Education program. The Manchester West team will now prepare for the national finals to be held in Omaha, Neb., on May 10-13, 2001.

In the middle school division, Amherst Middle School triumphed, outscoring Milford (second place) and Lyme and McKelvie middle schools. There is no national competition for middle school winners.

According to the team's sponsor, teacher Steven Grady, most of the team members are seniors, and some have been competing in Mock Trial since middle school. "This is just a terrific culmination of all of their work. They started working on this case as soon as it was published in October, working on their own time, meeting at each other's homes," Grady said.

Manchester West bested teams from Alton Central, Kingswood Regional and Milford. The ten-member West team was assisted by attorney-coach Robert Bersak, an attorney with Public Service of New Hampshire. The winners were presented a check for $1,000 from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation to help pay for travel expenses for the national competition. The team is also seeking contributions to help defray an estimated $5,000 in travel costs. Anyone wishing to contribute funds to help send the NH team to Omaha should make checks payable to Manchester West High School (specify for Mock Trial Team), 9 Notre Dame Avenue, Manchester, NH 03102-3999. Contact Bob Bersak at 634-3355 or at bersara@psnh.com for more information.

The teams that competed in this year's competition are listed below. Winners from each competition site are in bold type.

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