We all know how BCMT Team one won regionals and are now headed to State, but what pushed them to meet this goal? Team 1, as stated in a previous article, consists of Swarit Pakala (‘23), Sanjana Srinivas (‘23), Gabrielle Stawski (‘23), Joel Thomas (‘23), Akshita Tirumalaraju (‘23), Liem Rao (‘23), & Ram Vaidhyanathan (‘23). Throughout the season, while I was focusing on my own team, I always noticed that Team one’s morale was always different than everyone else. “In the beginning of the season, we all weren’t as dedicated, it was only after we lost the first trial against BA that people started to be more focused on going to state,” was what Swarit had told me when I interviewed him. It was the one single loss that pushed them to make their goal to win regionals. And due to this one goal, team one got closer, “These are a group of people that I may not connect with outside of mock trial but even after State…I hope the connections continue.” said Joel, and it happens with anyone no matter what the sport. Now State is coming up just next week and this year…it’s back to being in-person in Madison and the team is very excited about it. Even though last year’s team one left a heavy weight for this year’s team one by winning state…they didn’t let that stop them. They pushed through the few stops they had with the lack of chemistry and slow learning curve and became the best in the region. At state, Team one will be up against Brookfield Academy, Waukesha South, Cedarburg, DC Everest, Franklin, Kewaskum, Lodi, Melrose-Mindoro, Middleton, River Falls, River Valley, Shorewood, Sturgeon Bay, Sun Prairie West, Superior, Wausau West, Whitefish Bay, Whitnall, and Xavier. If BCMT wins State, they will represent WI at the National Tournament that will be held in Little Rock, AR.