The atmosphere at the mat room was intense Monday and Tuesday, lightening Wednesday, as Mount Si’s state-bound grapplers prepared to handle their business.

Mitch Rorem and Tim Corrie stepped up to the big show at the WIAA state wrestling championships in the Tacoma Dome.

The team departed Thursday, along with Mount Si gymnasts for state action.

Both Mount Si wrestlers made it three rounds into the tournament.

Corrie and Rorem both had first-round losses. Rorem fell to Meadowdale’s Ciaran Ball, 4-1, then beat Ferndale’s Hunter Grundhurd before falling to Kelso’s Keoni Garcia, 3-1.

Corrie fell, 8-4, to Decatur’s Spencer Smith in the first round, beat Stanwood’s Keegan Noel, with a fall in 3:51, then fell to Will Bishop of Hanford in a 9-7 decision.

The prior weekend, Rorem placed second at regionals in his class, with Corrie placing third.

“These guys are hard-working,” said head coach Tony Schlotfeldt. “They’ve done a lot of work, the last four years. They set the pace for our practices. They get what they deserve—they get to go to the big show.”

Nate Whited, at 220, and Eli Clure, at 120, placed fifth and attended as alternates; It was Clure’s second appearance at state as an alternate. He narrowly missed a ticket to the show after falling, 2-1, in a decision at regionals.

Ryley Absher, 132, just missed a chance to attend, placing sixth.

Whited was happy to attend, “just to support my team—it’s what I’m here for. If I get to wrestle, it’s another positive.”

Of this group, Clure returns as a senior.

Work hard, year round, the state bound seniors suggest to younger teammates. Corrie and Rorem put in time at camps, and Rorem is a Valley club wrestler.

“It all begins with practice,” says Corrie.

“It goes really fast,” Rorem said of the season. “You’ve got to make the time out of season to have good results in season.”

Corrie ran cross-country in the fall, and Rorem was a Mount Si lineman. Both came in conditioned.

“But there’s nothing like wrestling,” Rorem said.