Cross Country
‘Cats fall short
Not rain, wind or muddy hills could deter the Mount Si ‘Cats from flying around the 3.1-mile cross country course at Mercer Island recently. The Mount Si girls’ team lost to state-ranked Mercer Island and crushed Cedarcrest. Leading the effort was Jasmine Carver, Meaghan Dunklee, Ariane Barr and Bek Richendifer. Also pulling out an impressive effort was Barb Holm.
For the boys’ team both Brad Allen and Brandi Cason posted top times with Sam Roberts also showing an impressive outing.
Mount Si competes in league meet
The Mount Si cross country team recently competed in the league meet held at the 3.1-mile Lake Sammamish State Park course. The boys’ team placed tenth with a score of 264 while the girls’ team placed sixth with a score of 176. Top runners were Brad Allen and Brandi Cason. For the girls’ team, Devan Paulus turned in a time of 21:02 to place in the top 30 runners.
Volleyball
‘C’ team thumps Liberty
The Mount Si “C” volleyball team defeated Liberty in three games last week, 25-20, 25-11 and 15-8. Rosie Lockie had four kills while Allyson Loud added three kills and five aces. Mikaila Fulfs had two aces and 17 serves with Amy Whitney also added two aces.
JV beats Liberty
The Mount Si JV volleyball team defeated Liberty last week in two games, 25-14 and 25-2,2 raising their record to 8-2 in league play.
Seniors come up big
Last Thursday was a great night for the Mount Si Wildcats’ volleyball squad as the team celebrated not only their Valley Division crown, but the efforts of their six seniors throughout their four years in the Wildcats’ program. And it was those seniors that put on a show as the Wildcats swept Sammamish in three games by the scores of 25-14, 25-12, and 26-24.
The six seniors on the Wildcats’ squad, Amy Keogh, Jaclyn Boals, Chandra Rappin, Zoe Nelson, Kristina Turple and Maggie Olson, were all honored in a 20-minute emotional pre-match ceremony. They were all given flowers and teddy bears, and several players and coach Bonnie Foote spoke about the accomplishments of these seniors. Following that ceremony, all six of the seniors got to play together in the first game and they put on a clinic.
The game was fairly close to start, as Mount Si broke out to an early lead, which got to as high as 6-2 before the Totems rallied back. Sammamish ultimately tied it at 7-7, then the Wildcats’ seniors went to work. With the score 9-8 Wildcats, Nelson killed the ball to get the serve back, then behind the serving of Rappin, and kills from Nelson, Olson and Boals, Mount Si scored seven straight points to take command of things at 17-8. The Wildcats cruised from there, and up 24-14, Olson finished things off with an ace to clinch game one.
“I think in game one, the reason we took it was because we all played together and we have that special bond on and off the court with each one of us,” said Turple.
The second game opened with the Wildcats returning to a regular lineup, with junior libero Emily White substituting for Rappin, and fellow junior Marissa Hill substituting for Nelson. Sammamish held the early lead this time around, but that didn’t faze the Wildcats, as they stayed close.
After Sammamish junior Erin LeVon erred on her serve, costing her team serve and the lead, the Wildcats went to work.
Tied 5-5 at that point, Hill came up big with several kills up front and the Wildcats blew out to a 12-5 lead. Behind continued strong play from Hill and Boals, Mount Si cruised again, and sophomore Katie Morgan finished off the Totems with two straight aces.
The Totems finally got something going in game three. They maintained the lead throughout a large portion of the game, despite the Wildcats’ best efforts. However, the game ended with the score in Sammamish’s favor 18-12.
After Hill killed the ball to make it 18-13, and gave Mount Si the serve, Hill stepped it up. Her strong serving (five aces in the sequence) helped the Wildcats go on a 9-0 run, which gave them the lead. The Totems showed no quit, though, as they rallied back to tie the game at 23, then take the lead 24-23. On game point, the Totems committed an error, costing them serve and the lead. Olson, on serve for Mount Si, promptly took care of the Totems with two straight aces, and the fans went home happy.
The division title came with an automatic berth to the district tournament. After their final regular season game Tuesday at Issaquah, the Wildcats play Saturday at Liberty High School in the Kingco Tournament. Mount Si plays at 3 p.m.
Soccer
Girls notch playoff spot
The Mount Si Wildcats girls’ soccer team knows that in order to contend for the playoffs, they need to win matches against teams they should beat. They did just that last Tuesday at Liberty High School in Renton, as the Wildcats shut out the Patriots 2-0 in Kingco 3A Conference action. That, combined with Issaquah’s 4-3 loss in the fog at Cedarcrest, enabled Mount Si to take sole possession of the third, and final playoff spot in the Valley Division. Freshman Monica Nelson and senior star Kristen Berndt punched in second half goals to give the Wildcats their margin of victory. For Berndt, it was her 14th goal of the year, and according to coach Darren Brown, should merit her serious consideration for the Kingco Player of the Year.
Brown said defense was key.
“I have a lot of confidence in my defense. What is scary is that three of my four starters in the back are sophomores and have two years left in the program. From what I have seen, we have the best defense in Kingco,” he said.
Brown also said the team is getting better each game.
“Each week, we are adding a component to our team that will carry us far. It has been a building block for us to get to where we are now, and I am very proud and honored that this great group has responded to the challenge the way they have,” he said.
Football
JV thumps MI in ‘Mud’ bowl
The Mount Si JV football team shut out Mercer Island’s “Wing-T” offense last week, 14-0, with great defensive line play by Kyle Meyers and Chip Delurm and the linebacker core led by Chris Brown. The offense had control of the game all night long with powerful offensive line blocking and the skilled running of Brandon Sales, Zac Sumner, Hadi Korma and Eric Forslin.
