Dos Pueblos Mock Trial Claims Fifth Straight Santa Barbara County Championship

After a fierce competition at Santa Barbara’s historic County Courthouse on February 28, Dos Pueblos High School’s mock trial team heard the results. They were county champions — for the fifth consecutive year. 

In the county’s 43rd annual mock trial competition, high schoolers acted as attorneys, bailiffs, clerks, witnesses, and even courtroom reporters and sketch artists working a fictional first-degree murder trial. This year’s case concerned a celebrity cooking show judge’s death by poisonous mushroom; the prosecution alleged that a contestant concealed the lethal “heartstopper” toadstools in a mushroom tlayuda. Teams prepared and argued both sides of the case as well as a pretrial legal matter. 

Dos Pueblos surpassed six teams to claim victory in the tense contest. San Marcos High School lost out in the finals, and Bishop Garcia Diego High School placed third. 

“That last round is always super close and super intense,” said attorney-coach Lisa Rothstein, Senior Deputy County Counsel for the county. “It’s stressful, but I think it’s probably the highlight of the competition. I know our kids generally really rise to the occasion and put on some of their very best performances.”

Dos Pueblos’s county triumph means the team will progress to the Mock Trial State Finals, taking place from March 20-22 in Oakland. 

Ask team members and their coaches about Dos Pueblos’s winning streak, and they’ll shout out work ethic, preparation, and a robust program infrastructure. The students are extremely dedicated, hosting peer-led practice sessions outside their official schedule. Rothstein recalled opening a trial-related Google document at 11:30 p.m. to see that three students were viewing it, too; they’d been on the phone for several hours, preparing together. 

“They want to get it right. They think about this stuff on a pretty deep level, deeper than a lot of lawyers do,” said attorney-coach Christine Voss, a criminal defense attorney.

Moreover, the program is an institution. It has both a varsity and junior varsity team, hosts mock trial summer camps, and competes in out-of-state competitions before the main season. The team also has an active alumni network who gather for annual reunions years after graduation and assist with practices and summer camp sessions. Students praised their coaches, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to learn from the experienced attorneys as well as their diligent, supportive teacher-coaches. 

But above all else, students and mentors alike attribute their success to team culture. 

“I think the main reason for our team’s success is the kids’ commitment to each other and to the team. They work incredibly hard and consistently demonstrate a sense of collectivism that is all too lacking in our world and that gives me hope for the future,” said teacher-coach Hannah Krieshok.

The Dos Pueblos team describes their ethos as a “tradition of excellence.” It’s a standard of kindness, sportsmanship, and respect that each member takes to heart. 

Team captains Ethan Gardiner, Alexis Demboski, and Ariel Li said members are a tight-knit group whose social bonds and positive attitudes help them thrive in competition. “It’s been such a close team, it’s been super supportive, and we’ve had good chemistry with each other,” said Li. “I think that can show in the courtroom that we want to be there, we want to work with each other, and we’re having fun.”

Rothstein echoed the sentiment. “We do better when we are picking kids to be a team as opposed to individuals who are good at mock trial,” she said. “We have students on this team who can finish each other’s sentences, who trust each other, who will collaborate with each other, and at the end of the day, they all want what’s best for the team.”

The benefits of mock trial participation extended beyond the courtroom. Li, Demboski, and Gardiner raved about the friendships and community they’ve made through the program.

“The community is one of the great parts about mock trial, and we’re all so close with each other and feel comfortable around each other,” said Gardiner. 

“It’s not like we’re just friends for mock trial,” said Demboski. “I think that’s part of what makes us a really strong team is that we genuinely really enjoy hanging out with each other and trust each other too.”

The three students, who lead the team alongside fellow captains Jonathan Yang and Riley Minne, said the experience has built confidence, public speaking ability, and a sense of civic responsibility. For Gardiner, it has also fostered an interest in a legal career. He and Minne intern for Voss at her criminal defense practice, and he intends to pursue law.

As the state competition draws near, the team is excited for the challenge. Dos Pueblos won first place in the state finals back in 2016. While they haven’t won the grand prize since, they’ve placed in the top ten (out of a field of 30 to 35 teams, depending on the year) five times, including a third-place finish last year. They also won first place in the national Empire Mock Trial Championship both this year and last. 

“We’re ready to bring the best case we can,” said Gardiner. “We’re feeling unified and ready.”

Dos Pueblos’s victorious varsity team includes students Dana Arkhipova, Jake Betancourt, Stanley Chen, Alexis Demboski, Ethan Gardiner, Mika Glasgow, Leon Guo, Justin Ji, Jiyoo Kim-Jung, Jamison Komaiko, Ariel Li, Julia Lovan, Kaitlyn Marden, Riley Minne, Stella Moreno, Haley Pedersen, Milena Rodríguez, Amel Sakr, Cecilia Vargas, and Jonathan Yang.