Editor's Note: The following content was provided by Breck.

The Breck Mock Trial Team captured third place at the 2012 National High School Mock Trial championships May 4-5 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Forty-six teams from 42 different states (2 teams from New Mexico), plus Guam, South Korea, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, competed in the two-day tournament. The Mockstangs beat teams from Alaska, Kentucky, and California before besting a tough team from Idaho in one of three "semi-final" trials. Despite just missing the finals by one ballot, Breck was the only team at the tournament to have an undefeated season!

Congratulations to the entire Nationals team: seniors Chris Erickson and Nicole Simpson; juniors Joshua Stillman, Sarah Koop, and Marielos Cabrera; sophomores Taylor Finken and Lorelei Lange; and freshmen Nicole Miller and Simon Parish. The team was expertly coached by teacher coach Chandra Joos deKoven, attorney coach Ross Hussey (Breck alum), and volunteer attorney coaches Jeff Paulsen and Maya Tester (Breck alum).

Special congratulations to Marielos Cabrera for being named an All-American Outstanding Witness, a distinction awarded to only the top 5% of witnesses in the tournament. Marielos portrayed Blasdelezo "Budge" DeBaca, a sentenced killer-for-hire testifying as part of a plea bargain on behalf of the United States Government in their case against former United States Representative Rawley Windsor in the murder of Carl Mankin.

The Mockstangs are three-time Minnesota State Mock Trial Champions. They have finished in the top 10 at Nationals the past three years, placing 3rd this year, 8th in 2011, and winning the national championship in 2010.