The Pioneer Valley charter school has been to the mock-trial finals for four years in a row.
BOSTON - It was a particularly tough and unusual way to lose the state mock trial championship match.
As a crowd of parents and students waited for his announcement, Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. finally broke the tension and declared that the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public High School in South Hadley was the winner of the annual statewide high school mock trial finals Wednesday.
Several members of the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public High School are shown while waiting for the results of Wednesday's statewide high school mock trial finals. From left to right are Ella Lombard-Billstrom, 15, of Amherst, Ivy Coles, 16, of Easthampton, and Alana Young, 17, of Belchertown.
Seconds later, victory dissolved into defeat for the Pioneer Valley team.
Agnes said that he erred. The actual winner, he told the crowd of about 200, was The Winsor School, an independent day school for girls in Boston.
"It feels like it was a scene out of a movie," said Rebecca Koppel, 15, a student at the Winsor School after the team won the mock trial finals, held at Faneuil Hall in Boston.
Gary R. Huggett, of Greenfield, teacher coach of the Pioneer Valley mock trial team, conceded that it was emotionally difficult for the students to hear they were champions and then learn they were actually runners-up.
Several students wept after the announcement.
Huggett said the judge made a mistake because the voting was so close.
In a 2-1 vote, a panel of three judges determined the winner after the two teams squared off in the mock trial.
"Our team was superb," said Huggett, the school's mock trial coach for 20 years. "They are just a wonderful bunch of kids."
During the two-hour competition, students act the roles of lawyers, witnesses and a defendant in a criminal trial in front of a judge, who was Agnes this year. Agnes and Judges John T. Lu and Kathe M. Tuttman chose the winner by awarding points for certain legal skills displayed during the contest including presentation and knowledge of the case and law.
Agnes and the other judges praised the students from both schools. Agnes said the students were as good as actual lawyers on their best days in his courtroom.
More than 130 teams took part in the competition this year. The mock trial program is administered by the Massachusetts Bar Association and is made possible by the international law firm of Brown Rudnick through its Center for the Public Interest in Boston, which has contributed $25,000 each year to the program since 1998, the bar association said.
Judging by the past, the Pioneer Valley team will be back to the championship match.
Wednesday's event marked the fourth year a in a row the team was in the finals and the ninth time since 1998.
The Pioneer Valley school had won two consecutive championships before Wednesday's defeat. It took home its first championship in 2005.
The Winsor School now advances to the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Indianapolis from May 9 to 11.