Underdog mock trial team wins San Mateo County championships

For seniors Peyton Higa and Annabella Lew, winning the tournament this year feels like redemption. Last year, the two schools went head-to-head in the finals, and Hillsdale lost by less than 1% of the possible points.

“Last year, we got extremely close to winning so that proved to us that this year we could do it and this year we could take it home,” Higa said.

The County Championship is the culmination of the team’s season and efforts. They spent five months practicing the case, building their arguments and fine tuning their performances, but this year it’s not the end of the road.

“This could have been our last trial ever,” Higa said. “That was part of our motivation behind putting everything out there and doing the best that we could.”

An advisor and coach of the team for nine years, Matt Springman said he has been proud of every student who has participated in the program. This year, his students went above and beyond, and a major reason they won the county tournament was because of their confidence.

“It’s intimidating because The Menlo School is a big, expensive private school who are really, really good, and have a really good program,” Springman, a history teacher and former attorney, said. “For a few years, it took us a while to get over the hump of not believing that we could even do it. Eventually, that eroded, and this year we went over the top.”

While the team is undoubtedly competitive and smart, their success stems from something larger, Springman said.

“They are super competitive, but you can’t compete at that level if you’re not having a good time and you don’t like the people you’re doing it with, so that has to come first,” Springman said.

When asked to pinpoint the reason for their success this year, the students acknowledged the camaraderie of their team before anything else. Believing they could succeed is what made all the difference this year, Lew said.

“We really pushed each other and we all would do affirmations before the trial and say we believe in ourselves, we’re going to win, we have confidence, and we would all say that so we could believe it,” Lew said.

Rather than strong debating skills and enunciation, Lew said the team’s inclusivity, support and kindness is what made the difference.

“Knowing your team has your back and is pushing you to be the best, the culture of our team propelled us to do well in the competition,” Lew said.

As an advisor for the team, Springman said his goal is not to train future lawyers — though he would not be surprised if many on the team go on to law school — but his goal is to teach skills and work ethic. From public speaking skills to improvisation, students said they are able to learn a lot about how to conduct themselves in professional settings, feel confident and trust their team.

The 2025 State Finals will be held March 14-16 in Los Angeles, where the team will present their same case with the added confidence coming off of their county win. While their arguments will largely remain the same, Higa said the team will spend the next couple weeks fine tuning the presentation.

“Mock trial is very detail oriented, so anything in your presentation, any vocal inflection, wording choice or even your facial expressions can take a good performance to a great performance,” Higa said.

At the state tournament, the Hillsdale team will likely see some familiar faces as many teams they scrimmaged against earlier in the season from other counties will be there. For the seniors, it will be one last chance to compete. If they win state, the team will represent California at a national tournament.

“We’re all super, super excited that this is a new opportunity for us and we can’t wait to see what it holds for us,” Lew said.

While the team prepares to perfect their case, they also are celebrating a notable win as underdogs.

“Someone described it as taking down a dynasty,” Higa said. “I don’t mean to be dramatic about it, but that is what it feels like. I think this will be the start of a new streak for Hillsdale.”