The Mount Si wrestling team traveled to Auburn last Saturday, Jan. 17, to face strong regional competition at the Auburn Mountanview Tournament of Champions.

Ryan Makela once again led the way for the Wildcats, with a third place finish in the 140 division. A wrestler that hasn’t made too many headlines this year made his mark: Joe Milks, in the 171 division, wrestled hard to a nice fourth place finish. Milks fell in his first match, but rebounded thanks to a bye and a pin, before being pinned in the third and fourth match by Auburn Mountainview’s Luke Peterson.

Cody Botten (112), Andrew Sypher (119), Aaron Peterson (125), Ben Larson (130), Cody Hookland (135), Dylan Cochran (145), Frank Tassara (152), Doc Derwin (189), Erik Sorvik (215) and Brian Copeland (285) all struggled, and were quickly eliminated in their respective divisions.

Mount Si traveled to Seattle last Thursday, Jan. 15, and came home with a dominating victory over the 4A Garfield Bulldogs.

All but two of the matches were won by the Wildcats as they rolled 62-16 over Garfield. Seven of the wins were by pin, as Cody Botten (112), Andrew Sypher (119), Aaron Peterson (125), Ryan Makela (140), AJ Brevick (145), Joe Milks (171), and Doc Derwin (189) all put their Garfield opponents to the mat and made quick work of them in their matches.

Cody Hookland (135) and Michael Nelson (285) each won their matches by forfeit, while Ben Larson (130) and Erik Sorvik (215) each had their respective contests go the distance, but both won in rather easy decisions; Larson’s was a 13-1 rout of Garfield’s Taji Thomas, while Sorvik took care of the Bulldogs’ Jason Lee 14-2. Shane Dixon (152) and Frank Tassara (160) were the two Mount Si wrestlers who fell in their matches; Dixon was pinned by Punneh Abdolhasseni of Garfield, while Tassara took Gordon Loop to the distance, but fell to the Bulldogs 10-2.

Mount Si is on the road Thursday, Jan. 22, as they meet Eastlake in a contest that has been postponed twice due to the weather conditions that have affected the Valley. Meet time is 6 p.m.

The Wildcats are home both next Tuesday and Thursday, Jan. 27 and 29, for double-headers, starting at 6 p.m. Next Tuesday’s twin bill is against 3A rivals Sammamish and Liberty while next Thursday’s match is against Skyline and Issaquah.