FOR THE DEFENSE- From left, Erika Harlacher, Amanda Mundell, Nayantara Bhushan, Kristin Miller and Hannah Harper of La Reina High School and their championship medals and trophies. La Reina High School captured the recent California Mock Trial Championship when their defense team won the final round against Piedmont High School from Alameda County.

This year's county victory was La Reina's fifth consecutive Ventura County championship. Last year the school won third place on the state level.

In the preliminary rounds, La Reina won their trials against teams from Otay Ranch Senior High from San Diego County, Louisville High School from Los Angeles County, Redlands East Valley High School from San Bernadino County and Tamalpais High School from Marin County.

Thirty-two schools competed in the state tournament held at the Riverside County Courthouse.

Under the guidance of volunteer attorney coaches Sharon Gronberg, Matt Hardy and Tom Mundell the students portrayed attorneys and witnesses in a fictitious first-degree murder case, People v. Palmer. Student attorneys also argued a pretrial motion, highlighting the admissibility of functional magnetic resonance imaging as evidence in court proceedings.

Scoring is based on the pretrial motion, opening statement, witness and attorney performance, closing statement and overall team presentation.

La Reina will represent California at the National High School Mock Trial Championship May 7 through 11 in Wilmington, Del.

Established in 1964, La Reina is a Catholic college-preparatory junior and senior school for young women in the tradition of the Sisters of Notre Dame.