Thomas Worthington High School's mock trial team made it to the "Sweet 16" at the state competition, then argued their way to become one of the final nine teams to survive the first day of competition.

"We were the only Franklin County-area team to advance to the second day of competition," said attorney and adviser Paul Nick.

The state mock trial competition was held March 11-13 at the Franklin County Courthouse.

The Thomas Worthington team was one of 36 teams in Ohio to make it through district and regional competition rounds to get a chance to compete at the state level.

Team members are seniors Megan Lawson, Jesse Hart, Lianna Havel and Andrew Paik, junior Mimi Ganzfried and sophomore Amy Mo.

"On the first day of state competition, our team made it to the final 16 after defeating Trinity High School from Cleveland," Nick said.

Lawson won the Best Attorney Award that day and Havel won the Best Witness Award.

"We then defeated St. Xavier High School from Cincinnati and were one of nine teams to survive the first day," Nick said.

He said the team went up against Archbishop Hoban High School from Akron on the second day and was knocked out of the competition.

Hoban took second place in the state last year.

Two teams -- Indian Hills High School from Cincinnati and Sylvania Southview from Toledo --battled it out the final day of competition.

Indian Hills won the championship for the second year in a row.

Nick hopes to recruit more students for next year's mock trial team.

"Four of our members are graduating seniors, so we hope to attract many more students to mock trial for next year," he said. "My goal is to field two teams, which enhances our chances of advancing to state competition again next year."

Two teams also would allow time to refine technique through intramural competition, he said.

"I am very proud of this year's team, particularly how they came together as a team and exemplified the highest levels of professionalism while also maintaining their competitive edge," Nick said.

"I believe that one of the benefits of participating in mock trial is not always winning, so much as learning how civility and professionalism can be more effective for advocates than sarcasm and gamesmanship," he said.