[Article by contributing writer Rhett Workman of Snoqualmie Valley Sports Journal.]
Time now for this week’s look here in Living Snoqualmie at where Mount Si High School’s winter sports teams stand as the postseason approaches for all of the Wildcat programs.
Boys’ Basketball: The Wildcat boys finished up regular season play Tuesday at North Creek High School with a 60-43 victory, finishing 13-0 in Kingco 4A play. They will be home Friday as the Crest Division’s top seed, hosting Redmond in the first round of the Kingco playoffs, with the winner set to play for the conference title Saturday night at Bellevue High School. The time for the game Friday, which is also the final basketball game to be played in the current MSHS gymnasium, is 7pm. In last Friday’s game, senior Jonny Barrett had a career-high 16 points to pace the Wildcats’ win over Issaquah, and he is now fourth on the team in scoring averaging just over six points a game. Mount Si will advance to next week’s Wes-King bi-district tournament regardless of the results of the Friday and Saturday games.
Girls’ Basketball: As the team continues to await the return of injured star player Sela Heide – out with the concussion suffered in the win over Eastlake a couple of weeks ago – Mount Si’s girls suffered its 5th straight loss in their regular-season finale, 53-37 to the North Creek Jaguars. Mount Si also struggled last Friday and fell 55-23 to Issaquah. Heide’s injury, on top of the ones suffered earlier in the season by fellow top players Izzy Smith and Nitika Kumar, both of whom are out for the season with knee injuries, means that a good 75-80% of the team’s scoring is out injured, and that has factored into the recent struggles. 4th seeded Mount Si faces 3rd seed North Creek on Friday at 7PM in the playoffs. They’ll also play Saturday depending on Friday’s results.
Wrestling: Mount Si finished the regular season 5-4 in Kingco 4A after losing last Tuesday to Issaquah before beating both Newport and Bothell in a dual meet last Thursday at home in Snoqualmie. Sophomore Tryon Kaess, at 113 lbs., won all three of his matches this past week – one by a pin and two more by so-called “technical fall”, so it was an impressive week for one of the Wildcats’ top younger athletes. The Kingco Tournament is this Friday and Saturday at North Creek High School in Bothell, with the top five wrestlers in all weight classes advancing to the regionals, which will be over in Moses Lake next weekend.
Gymnastics: The Wildcats are home on Thursday for Senior Night, as their seniors will be recognized for their four years in the Mount Si program. The Wildcats, in the 7:00 p.m. meet, host Redmond. Mount Si split a meet last Thursday at Newport, beating Skyline but falling to the host Knights. Their postseason starts next week, on February 9, with the Wes-King bi-district meet, hosted by North Creek High School. The top two teams and 10 individuals will advance, as will the top three finishers in the all-around competition, which could be good news for Mount Si, as both junior Sidney Aspinall and sophomore Mya Morrow will be very much in the hunt for one of those three spots to the state meet in Bellevue.
More next week here in Living Snoqualmie!
