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Team seeks national mock trial victory
STORY TOOLS 
More from Education: K-12After 15 Ventura County titles and a long-awaited state championship victory this year, the La Reina High School mock trial team traveled to Wilmington, Del., this week with one thing in mind: Bring home the national title.
Nine students from the 24-member team got to travel to Delaware to represent California, trading legal arguments with winners from other states at the national competition that began Friday.
"It's really too close to call, so far," La Reina coach Thomas Mundell said Friday. "It's very interesting to see the high quality of teams that make it to the national championship."
Students from the Thousand Oaks all-girls Catholic school won the state competition in Riverside last month, advancing the team to the three-day competition in Wilmington Superior Court.
More than 500 students are arguing a mock civil case in a courtroom where they play attorneys, witnesses, jurors and others.
La Reina's team include "attorneys" Amanda Mundell, Hannah Harper and Nayantara Bhushan and "witnesses" Lauren Dansey, Erika Harlacher, Kristin Miller, Piper Nunez and Julianne Brauer. Paloma Spencer is the team's clerk/timekeeper.
This year's case involves a foreign company suing an American corporation that doesn't want to sell the Port of Wilmington because it claims the foreign company has ties to terrorism. The foreign company is trying to force the sale through the courts.
On Friday, the La Reina team went against the Washington state champions during the first round and the Minnesota team in the second round.
Teams won't know their scores and standings or who will advance to the finals until today, when the two final teams will test their skills in the courtroom. The national winner will be announced tonight.
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