Press Release:
Lowndes High School opened its season in October with 106 other teams from around the State of Georgia. The first step of the competition was Region 19 which took place Saturday January 27th, 2018 at the Lowndes County Judicial Building against Clinch County, Wayne County, Thomas County Central and Valwood.
Lowndes defeated all teams and shutout Valwood in the Championship Round to capture its 9th consecutive Region Title. Emma Emery and Kaylee Valencia won best Attorney Awards while Olivia Kirkland, Kalaysia Kier and Elizabeth Crosby won best witness awards.
With just 54 teams left in the State after Region the top three teams from Region 19 advanced to the District Competition on February 17th, 2018 to face off against Region 1 qualifiers Champions Thomasville High School, Brookstone and Northside High School with Lowndes and Thomasville receiving the first round byes.
Region 19 showed how strong it was dispatching Brookstone and Northside from Region 1 in the first round leaving only Thomasville to face Valwood in round two as Lowndes was facing Wayne County. Region 1 against asserted its dominance setting up a rematch for the District Title between Valwood and Lowndes in the District Finals.
Lowndes once again came out victorious this time shutting out Valwood of all awards in the Championship round. Troy Crow, Emma Emery and Claire Kolisz won best Attorneys while Kaylee Valencia, Olivia Kirkland and Elizabeth Crosby won best witnesses. This moves Lowndes High School in to the Final Elite 8 for the 9th time under the coaching of Michelle and Michael White who will be coaching their final matches on Saturday March 3rd, 2018 if they fail to advance to Nationals in Reno, Nevada.
This team has been something special said coach Michelle White. They have faced a lot of adversity this year having had students leave the team at crucial moments.” “This team just never gives up.” Coach Michael White said.
“After the Elite Eight last year which was held above Atlanta in Lawrenceville where it is held each year we received criticism during feedback for having fake southern accents and were penalized for it.” “I wrote what I deemed to be a rather informative letter explaining the differences in vernacular and accents not only in the United States but also between those of us south of Macon and those in the Atlanta area.” “We were assured it would be addressed with the scorers this year if we made it. Well guess what? We made it so we will see if they took to heart or if they took it under consideration.”
“Michelle and I have enjoyed the past 15 years coaching this academic sport and we are proud that right now at any competition be it Lawrenceville Georgia, Yale University, Harvard University or San Francisco California. When they here that Lowndes High School is going to be there they tighten their belts a notch and know they will be in for an intellectual fight.”
The Lowndes High School Mock Trial Team consists of Taylor Barfield, Payton Bedgood, Elizabeth Crosby, Troy Crow, Daniel Cseh, Ashley Doughty, Emma Emery, Kenna Fussell, Kenzie Gulledge, Kalaysia Kier, Olivia Kirkland, Claire Kolisz, Skylar Lyles, Kris Morse, Gage O’Steen, Jeremy Troiano, Kaylee Valenzia, Reese Veuleman, Taylor Walker.
