Chattanooga team repeats as national Mock Trial champs The Tennessee State High School Mock Trial winners became the first ever to successfully repeat as national champions during competiton in New Orleans on Saturday (May 10). The group of six Chattanooga homeschoolers received winning ballots from all judges in all rounds and scored the highest cumulative point total ever in the national high school mock trial championship competition. The team, which represents Family Christian Academy, consists of Beth Coleman, Amber Gruber, Tyler Randolph, and siblings Anna, Joshua, and Matthew Downer. They were coached by Jeff Atherton, an attorney with the Chattanooga law firm of Milligan, Barry, Hensley, and Evans. Atherton is a homeschooling father of four and the vice-president of the local homeschool association. He has coached the Chattanooga homeschool mock trial teams for the past 12 years. Atherton was assisted by fellow Chattanooga attorney and homeschool graduate Matthew Hargraves, an associate with Luther Anderson. Hargraves was a member of the first mock trial team coached by Atherton. A total of 44 teams representing 42 states and the Marianas Islands competed in the national competition. Each team competed in four rounds of competition prior to the championship round. The Tennessee team had scrimmage rounds against teams representing Alaska, Arizona, Alabama and Florida, before facing teams from Oregon and North Carolina on Friday and Iowa and Minnesota on Saturday. After the four competition rounds, the teams were ranked on won/lost records, total number of scoring ballots received and then, if applicable, the total number of points from each ballot. At the conclusion of the first four rounds, there were three undefeated teams, so the determination of the participants in the finals was dependent upon the number of ballots. In the championship round the Tennessee team represented the defendants against a Colorado team representing the plaintiff. The final round had seven scoring judges, who unanimously gave the victory to the Tennessee team. The mock trial case was based on a hypothetical lawsuit concerning fraud in a high school election. The theme of the case was very similar to issues raised in Florida in the 2000 election for the President of the United States. The team qualified for the national competition by winning Tennessee's State High School Mock Trial Championship in March. The event, sponsored by the TBA's Young Lawyer's Division, drew 19 teams from across the state who had won district-level competitions. Stan Graham, an attorney with Waller, Lansden, Dortch & Davis, was chair of this year's YLD Mock Trail Committee.