Several Mount Si wrestlers qualified for regional competition in separate meets last Saturday, Feb. 6.

In the boys’ Kingco 3A meet held at Liberty High School in Renton, the Wild-cats finished fourth as a team, but saw many of their top wrestlers do well.

The Wildcat performance was led Andrew Sypher. The senior won the title at 119 pounds, as the only Mount Si wrestler to take an individual crown at the meet. Sypher pinned both Sammamish’s Jack Lam and Bellevue’s Ben Matteucci to reach the finals, where he shut out Juanita’s Danny Baba in a 5-0 decision.

Three Wildcats took second in their weight classes. At 135, Ben Larson had a bye until the semifinals, then reached the finals with a quick pin of Liberty’s Danny Dapper; the pin came 53 seconds into the match. Mercer Island’s Blake Johnson ended Larson’s quest for the title in that final match, shutting out the Wildcat senior with a 9-0 decision. The 140 division saw Trey Botten also grab a bye into the semifinals, and advance to the finals with an even quicker pin of Mercer’s Ian Zhang; that pin took only 19 seconds to occur.

Lee Amador (160) made his way to the finals in that class with a pin of Liberty’s Shane Small then a 4-1 decision over Mercer Island’s Elliott Wittenberg. The Wildcat senior forced overtime in the finals with the Patriots’ Jay Chakravarty, but Chakravarty got the best of Amador in that overtime session, and took the match, and title, 4-2.

Mount Si’s Conor Deutsch took third in the 152 division. Deutsch rebounded from a semifinal loss to MI’s Phil Frazier to grab the third place spot; to get that he pinned Juanita’s Austin Singer then outlasted Liberty’s Jake Tierney in a 7-6 decision. Cody Botten also took third, this in the 125 class. Botten fell in the semifinals to Bellevue’s Josh Spiezle, then shut out Wildcat teammate Bruce Stuart 12-0 to take the third place crown. Stuart as a result took fourth. He rebounded from a semifinal loss to Mercer’s Kyle Shanafelt to grab that spot.

At 285, Mount Si’s Josh Mitchell took third. He rallied from a semifinal loss to Bellevue’s Jin Park to take third; to grab the spot Mitchell also had to beat a fellow Wildcat, Brian Copeland, who took fourth. Mitchell pinned Copeland in that third place match. Aaron Peterson took third in the 135 pound division, and made state. Erik Sorvik (215), Zach Storm (189) and Shane Dixon (171) all took fourth in their respective classes.

Meanwhile, the girls’ regionals saw their first-ever Mount Si competitor, and she did well. Senior Mackenzie Will represented the Valley strong at the girls’ meet, held at Juanita High School. Will took sixth in the 112 class, and enabled Mount Si to finish 23rd as a team. The Wildcat senior fell in a major decision 25-9 to Stanwood’s Savannah Phillips in the first round, then rebounded by shutting out Lynnwood’s Taylor Hayes 16-0 in a major decision. Will then won a close one, 12-11, over Ingraham’s Kimberly Johnson, then was pinned by Sultan’s Shayna Beach. Will forfeited the fifth place match to Lake Stevens’ Bridgitte Belcher.

Regionals for the boys are this weekend at Liberty High School.