A team of students from Colts Neck High School defeated a team of students from Mainland Regional High School of Atlantic County to win the state championship title in the 37th annual Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition.
The competition was sponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and was held at the New Jersey Law Center, New Brunswick, on April 11.
The students from Colts Neck will represent New Jersey in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Athens, Ga., May 16-18.
The team was coached by teacher Holly Lucarelli and attorney William Visone, who was a past member of the Colts Neck High School mock trial team.
The students on the mock trial team are Nicholas Fischer, Brooke Lumer, Ghadeer Lamah, Dylan Cohen, Dennis Abate, Brian Perlstein, Ty Blitstein, Alexandria Henderson, Chloe McAloon and Cassandra Dalton.
In an interview, Lucarelli said she has taught social studies at the high school for 18 years. Fifteen years ago, when the Freehold Regional High School District created the Law and Public Service learning center at Colts Neck, Lucarelli was selected to be the mock trial team’s adviser.
“The majority of students on the mock trial team are students in the Law and Public Service learning center, but the team is open to all of the students in the building,” Lucarelli said.
“This year’s team consists of six seniors and three juniors from the Law and Public Service learning center. Our 10th team member is a freshman and a member of the school’s ROTC program. Many of the students on the team have parents who are attorneys. Other students have a specific interest in the law,” she said.
Lucarelli said Visone, the team’s attorney coach, was on the mock trial team for all four of his years at Colts Neck and is a former student of hers. Visone is an assistant prosecutor in the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
“He (Visone) graduated from Colts Neck and went on to earn an undergraduate degree from New York University and a law degree from Georgetown. He returned to the area at the same time our former attorney coach, my brother, James Tracy, was ready to step aside.
“Bill dedicated countless hours on weekends and in the evenings during the week to meet with our team. He was, and continues to be, instrumental in helping the team understand legal theory, rules of evidence, how to correctly write questions for direct and cross examination, and prepare to be witnesses.
“Together, our team works very closely and collaboratively to prepare for trial. Bill has coached the team for three years. My brother was our attorney coach for 12 years and was only happy to step aside knowing that Bill was taking over.
“Jim left Colts Neck to coach the Wall High School team where his daughter is a member of the mock trial team. This conflict of interest was the reason for his leaving. He was thrilled to see our team win the state championship.
“Bill and I both acknowledge Jim’s tremendous dedication to our team and the mock trial program, and feel he deserves some credit for our team’s success,” Lucarelli said.
“When I asked the students what winning the state championship means to them, they said they are thrilled because they know it has been a goal of the Colts Neck High School mock trial team for 15 years.
“They are glad their teacher coach and attorney coach were able to achieve this success. They are happy all the hours of hard work paid off,” she said.
A total of 216 high school teams registered for the mock trial competition this season. This year’s case dealt with a roller coaster accident. Throughout the competition, students argued both sides of the case while playing the roles of lawyers, witnesses and jurors.
New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Marilyn C. Clark, presiding judge, Criminal Division, Passaic County, presided over the final round of the competition.
Students from Newton High School of Sussex County served as jurors. Newton High School placed third in the state championship.
The annual Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition is sponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, the educational and philanthropic arm of the New Jersey State Bar Association, in cooperation with the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and New Jersey’s county bar associations.