[Article by Rhett Workman, contributing writer and owner of Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal.]
Time now to give you a wrap up on what’s happening in Mount Si High School sports in Living Snoqualmie. As you saw, Mount Si High School’s boys’ basketball team is playing this Friday in the state tournament, but two other Wildcat sports programs are also wrapping up their postseasons. Here’s a look at them.
Wrestling: This past weekend wrapped up the high school wrestling season with the state tournament, known as the “Mat Classic” at the Tacoma Dome. This event is a highlight on the high school sports calendar every year in Washington, as fans witnessed action on over a dozen mats all going simultaneously so there was definitely something for everyone down there. And there was a sizeable delegation of boys and girls athletes from the two Snoqualmie Valley high schools there, eight of which came from Mount Si, including a state champion.
Tryon Kaess won the 4A crown at 106 lbs., beating Jaden Sanchez from Davis High School in Yakima in a 7-3 decision to take the title. Kaess rolled into the semifinals pinning three straight opponents last Friday and Saturday, then defeated Pasco’s Nathaniel Tovar in the semis to earn his shot at the title. And perhaps for Kaess, it felt good to beat Tovar because the opponent from east of the Cascades had beaten Kaess’ teammate, Mark Marum, in the quarterfinals and ended Marum’s shot at that same title. Marum ended up finishing third, though, beating Tovar for that third-place crown, so perhaps the Wildcat sophomore got some satisfaction from getting that done.
One other Mount Si entrant, Spencer Marenco (160), took home hardware, with the senior taking seventh. He went 5-2 on the weekend with the only two losses he suffered coming to Richland’s Patrick Workman, no relation to this writer, in the second round and in a consolation quarterfinal.
The remaining Wildcats – Jaeden Durham (145), Brody Belaire (138), Sage Phelps (170), Luke Harper (152) and Braedon Haynie (126) all were eliminated in first-day action last Friday.
Gymnastics: Three MSHS athletes earned slots into this weekend’s state meet, being held for the first time this year in Bellevue after many years in Tacoma at the Tacoma Dome’s exhibition hall.
Shelby Johnson, Sidney Aspinall and Tylor Zwiefelhofer will all compete in individual event action on Saturday at the state meet, being hosted by Sammamish High School. Johnson, a senior, made it on vault, completing a four-for-four in state meet trips as a high school gymnast (she will have competed all four years of her high school career in the state meet), while Aspinall will compete on uneven bars and floor exercise and Zwifelhofer will compete on the bars and on the balance beam. So you Mount Si gymnastics fans will have girls to cheer on in each event if you go down on Saturday. The three earned their berths out of last weekend’s Wes-King district meet, which was held in Bellevue after having been snowed out the previous weekend up at North Creek High School in Bothell.
Mount Si did not qualify as a team to the event, which was expected as this is the toughest region to get out of with the likes of Woodinville and North Creek competing in it, both teams whose team scores run at this time of year well into the 170’s, territory that the Wildcats are not accustomed to reaching.
Information on this weekend’s gymnastics event is available by going to the WIAA’s website, www.wiaa.com, and looking for their Tournament Central page. http:www.wiaa.com
Boys Swimming: Junior Nathan Harris made it to the state finals in the 100m Butterfly and finished with an impressive 14th in State at the 4A Championships last weekend in Federal Way.
That has been your look at Mount Si sports in this week’s Living Snoqualmie!
