By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
MARIANAS High School bested six other high schools in the highly competitive CNMI High School Mock Trial competition held March 5–6, 2026, at the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona served as the presiding judge for the championship round.
MHS won the 2026 CNMI mock trial championship, defeating Dr. Rita Hocog Inos Jr. & Senior High School, which finished second.
It’s the sixth consecutive year that MHS has won the championship since 2019. There was no competition in 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic. In 2024, MHS was awarded the championship by default after too few schools registered.
The MHS team — Ainsely Ancheta, Angelica Hope Calvo, Danice Fernando, Steven Lian, Frances Arianne Licda, Isabella Mallari, David Park, Aquinna Dion Santos, Trixia Jhoanne Singca, D’Ana Teregeyo and Reese Kaeley Tolentino — will represent the CNMI at the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Des Moines, Iowa, in May 2026.
Teacher coaches are Robyn Spaeth and Jacoby Winkfield, while attorneys Michael Dotts and Rebecca Wiggins served as attorney coaches.
Last year’s championship round also came down to MHS and RHIJSHS, with MHS taking the title.
Ancheta expressed gratitude to their teacher and attorney coaches, as well as her teammates.
“I’m really proud to be a part of our team. We work really hard, especially with the help of our coaches. We put in a lot of effort, and it’s attributed to every single student on our team,” she said.
Calvo said all the high school teams showed significant improvement.
“Honestly, from last year, I feel like everyone stepped up their game. Everyone here was so competitive — their examinations, their witnesses. It was really an honor to compete with teams that clearly put in all the hard work,” she said.
She added that she hopes to apply everything she learned from last year’s national competition and this year’s tournament.
“Even just understanding objections and how I present my material — I hope I can bring that to nationals and improve our scores.”
Lian said he could not imagine competing with any team other than his own. He believes this year’s MHS team is stronger and more prepared for the national competition.
Lian, who was also part of the 2025 MHS mock trial team, won the 2025 CNMI Moot Court competition with fellow MHS student Ricky Tang. Unlike mock trial, moot court focuses on appellate cases.
Asked about their preparation, MHS Mock Trial Club president Trixia Jhoanne Singca said the team spent long hours practicing.
“A lot of times we see sunsets at MHS because that’s how late we’re staying. It’s crazy how much hard work and dedication everyone put into the team. I’m very grateful and very proud of everyone, and we would also like to thank our coaches,” she said.
“A lot of our practices have been in Mr. Dotts’ office. He sacrifices his time and office space for us to practice, and throughout all these years of coaching us, he has always stayed by our side. We’re very grateful,” she added.
As for preparing for nationals, Singca said the team expects to receive the case materials in late March.
“We only have around a month or a month and a half to practice for it, so we’ll be making sure to practice a lot,” she said.
This year’s fictional case centers on the rise in teen vaping. It follows the story of Carter Cruz, a well-liked Pagan High School sophomore who began using e-cigarettes in eighth grade and developed an addiction that aggravated his asthma, ultimately contributing to the heart attack that killed him on March 19, 2024.
His parents, Alex and Nic Cruz, learned of his long-term vaping only after a school suspension weeks before his death. Close relatives and friends — including cousin and ICU nurse Kennedy Torres and best friend Jess/Jessie Andrews — described how easily teens accessed vape products, often purchasing them from Vic’s Vâporium, owned by E-Vâp inventor Vic Vâvrick.
Although tobacco company Maurice Phillipe, which acquired E-Vâp, maintains it does not market to minors, the Cruz family sued both the company and the shop. Maurice Phillipe has since settled, leaving the case against Vic’s Vâporium at the center of this year’s mock trial.
The competition brought together high school teams from across the Commonwealth to argue the case before federal judges and practicing attorneys, giving students hands-on experience in courtroom procedure, legal analysis and public speaking.
Other schools in the competition were Kagman High School, Mount Carmel School, Saipan International School, Saipan Southern High School and Tinian High School.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
