RENO – High school drama took a back seat to courtroom drama Friday as 11 teams from northern Nevada schools competed in a mock trial competition at the Bruce R. Thompson Federal Building.

Among them was a six-member team from Spanish Springs High School. Weary from weeks of intense preparation, the students took on the roles of lawyers and witnesses in a case of teen angst turned to murder.

“It's a lot different from what you see on TV,” Spanish Springs sophomore Jade Wright, 16, said after her third round of adjudicating, this time in defense of an 18-year-old accused of coercing a peer to shoot and kill a rival.

The competition consisted of three “trials” in which the teams took on the roles of either prosecution or defense and different sets of witnesses. From there, the students had to use their legal skills to examine the witnesses, handle objections from the opposing team and react to the judges' decisions. Real-life judges and lawyers presided over the hearings and scored the students' performances.

“This was a great competition,” said Jack Angaran, a trial lawyer from Reno who acted as a judge. “Many of you have a future in the law. I tell you go for it.”

Josette Jones, an English teacher at Spanish Springs High who coaches mock trial, said she has heard current lawyers say they could not imagine having taken on such intense preparation as the high school students did.

“I am so proud of these students, words cannot describe how proud I am,” said Jones, who has taught in Washoe County for 28 years. “Considering the short amount of time they had to prepare and how busy they are.”

The six Spanish Springs students said they only had a couple of weeks to get ready because they were busy with another speech and debate competition. There were many cranky late nights ordering pizza at the school as they pored over the details of the case.

“You see people on TV and they're relatively calm but that's because it's all pre-rehearsed,” said Grant Colby, a 15-year-old sophomore who played witness Madison Wright, the man who sold the gun to the killer in the case. “You rehearse with your friends and you feel like you've rehearsed enough but you get up there and it doesn't seem to matter. That's when you realize you may not know the case well enough.”

Shelby Goossens, a 16-year-old junior who played the young woman accused of manipulating a friend to kill, said she learned that witnesses on direct questioning need to give as much detail as possible to help their side, but on cross examination they need to give “yes” or “no” answers only.

“It taught me self-control,” Goossens said, “and not to fight back when people are twisting up your words.”

Though the team didn't take home any awards Friday, they all came away with a strong desire to work harder to be ready for next year's trial.

“Even though it was stressful and really hard we all had a lot of fun,” Colby said.

Reno, Galena and McQueen high schools took home the prizes.