The 2001-2002 Jesuit High School Mock Trial team was a talented and very deep team that defended Jesuit's Region I Championship, finished as the State Runner-Up, and competed like madmen in the National Tournament.
The season started out with a bang when an unprecendented number of students showed up for tryouts. Those tryouts will also be remembered as the night that the coaches were introduced to a talented group of freshman (Stanton, Slattery, Mims, & Tufton) and one pre-freshman "football player" (Cusimano). Those five students were destined to become the nucleus of a Jesuit team that won four consecutive Region I Championships, and established a reputation for JHS at the State Tournament.
Region I Tournament The Jesuit Blue team faced the Jesuit White team in the final round of the Region I Competition. Despite the fact that these two squads faced each other before during practice scrimmages, the final round was different. With parents watching from the courtroom pews, every Jesuit student performed at their very best. It was the best round of the year, and the surpising Jesuit White team (consisting of 4 freshmen, 1 pre-freshman, 1 senior, and 2 Gulottas) narrowly defeated the Jesuit Blue team.
State Tournament Jesuit White team lost to Baton Rouge in the final round of the State Championship.
National Tournament The National Tournament was held in New Orleans in 2001. Fortunately, there was an odd number of State Champions who attended the competition, and Louisiana was allowed to field two teams to even out the brackets. On very short notice, the Jesuit White team, as the State Runner-Up, was given the opportunity to compete at the National Tournament. The Jays jumped at the opportunity, even though it meant they would have to learn a new problem in a very short period of time. With the help of the Jesuit Blue Team, the Jesuit White team crammed three months of preparation into three weeks, and rose to the challenge.
