The Tyrone Mock Trial team had a successful showing at the fourth annual Penn State Mock Trial tournament on January 12-13.  While the team was only able to get one win in four trials over the course of two days, they won two individual awards and competed well against some of the best mock trial teams in the state.

The team has all new attorneys this year but still managed to put up a fight against some larger and more experienced schools.

“We are a young team this year. Almost everyone is either new or in a new role, so with that in mind we had a fantastic tournament. All our trials were close and I’m very pleased with the outcome,” said mock trial adviser Todd Cammarata.

In addition, senior Meghan McMullen and junior Hannah Denny and both brought home individual trophies for their successes in the courtroom.

Meghan McMullen earned a best witness award and Hanna Denny earned a best attorney award.

“It was the second year going to the mock trial competition. My first year I was a witness and this year I was an attorney. It definitely was a lot of fun, just like last year. I think everyone did a great job,” said Denny. “My proudest moment was winning the best attorney award especially seeing as it is the first time I have been a lawyer in a mock trial competition.”

This was McMullen’s second trip to the tournament, having played a witness role in Tyrone’s third place overall finish at the PSU tournament last season.

“Winning the outstanding witness award was so validating. I went through the weekend thinking I had performed badly. I can’t even express how relieving it was to hear my name being announced,” said McMullen.

This year’s case is about a doctor put on trial for proscribing opioids that resulted in the death of her patient.

The attorneys on the team are Hannah Denny, Lucia Isenburg, Miranda Goodman and Mario Grugan. Witnesses are Meghan McMullen, Lindsey Walk, Alicia Endress, Ally Miller, Brandon Escala, Paul Rhoades, and Ben Delbaggio.

“The entire two day event was such an amazing learning and bonding experience for the entire team. It definitely provided us with some knowledge to go with for our upcoming trials,” said Denny.

The first trial of the regular season is on Thursday, January 17 at 6:00 pm the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg. The trial is free and the public is welcome to attend.