Mount Si High School Fall 2023 Sports Preview

Football

Things are off to a hot start for the Mount Si football team, which is looking to make a deep run in the state playoffs.

The Wildcats are 3-0 and have won all their games in dominant fashion. Playing against Spanaway Lake in their home opener — a team they lost to by three points last year — the Wildcats scored 41 points, including a pair of pick-sixes, in a 41-7 rout.

Head Coach Steve Botulinski, in his second year at the helm, said the success stems from cohesion and good communication. For the first time in 25 years, the Wildcats attended an offseason team camp in the summer at Pacific Lutheran University. Botulinski said it was a unifying experience for his squad.

“You can definitely tell our guys are more connected,” he said.

The Wildcats roster has 28 seniors returning from last year’s team that finished with a 4-4 record in the regular season and lost to the defending state champions, Graham-Kapowsin, in the first round of the state playoffs.

Running back Beau Phillips and linemen Tanner Stokes and Jayden Wells, key contributors from last year’s team, are all back for their senior season. Sophomore Nate Donavan will take snaps at quarterback, as a first year varsity starter.

Photo Courtesy of Calder Productions. From left: Casey Johnston, Dylan Aiken, Beau Phillips, Tanner Stokes.

■ Sept. 8: Spanaway Lake (W 41-7)

■ Sept. 15: North Creek (W 24-10)

■ Sept. 22: @ Skyline, 7 p.m.

■ Sept. 29: Issaquah, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 7 : @ Woodinville, 1 p.m.

■ Oct. 13: Eastlake, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 21: @ Chiawana, 2 p.m.

■ Oct. 27: @ Bothell, 7 p.m.

Photo by Conor Wilson/Valley Record. The Mount Si golf tem has its sights set on the KingCo league title.

Boys Golf

There are some new faces teeing off for the Mount Si golf team this fall, and Head Coach Troy Garwood said he is excited for the future.

“I’m feeling really optimistic about this group. There’s some new faces and a lot of youth in this group,” he said. “Next year we might be one of the teams favored to win the league.”

This year’s team, he said, still has a shot at winning the KingCo league title, and has its eyes set on qualifying for districts and state.

Alongside a talented freshman class, including Jackson Barter and Cooper Gaffney, Garwood said several ex-football and soccer players tried out for the golf team this fall and are making an immediate impact.

Sophomore Luca Toldo came over from the football team this season, Garwood said, and was the team’s top golfer during tryouts. The Wildcats will also return junior Charlie Gaffney, one of Mount Si’s three state qualifiers from last season.

■ Aug. 30: Mercer Island (L 188-180)

■ Sept. 7: @ Skyline (L 220 – 213)

■ Sept. 12: Woodinville (W 205 – 188)

■ Sept. 13: @ Bothell, (L 204 – 202)

■ Sept. 18: @ North Creek, 3:30 p.m.

■ Sept. 20: Newport, 3:30 p.m.

■ Sept. 26: @ Eastlake, 4 p.m.

■ Sept. 27: Issaquah, 3:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 3: Redmond, 3:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 5: @ Inglemoor, 4 p.m.

Photo courtesy of the Snoqualmie Valley School District. The Wildcats girls cross country team is in the midst of a dynasty.

Girls Cross Country

The Wildcats girls cross country team is in the midst of a dynasty, and has the potential to cap it off with a podium finish at this year’s state championship meet.

Returning all but one runner from last year’s varsity squad, the Wildcats will look to improve on the prior two seasons where they placed sixth and seventh at the WIAA State Championship meet.

They’ll be led by senior Addie Craig and junior Hailey Cossey, who finished 25th and fourth, respectively, as individuals at state last season.

The duo currently have the second (Craig: 18:20) and third (Cossey: 18:21) fastest times in school history over 5k and could make a run at the school record of 18:04.

Boys Cross Country

As a team, the Wildcats season ended with a ninth place finish at the district meet.

Current junior Andrew Krejci, who became the eight fastest runner in school history last year, was the only individual to qualify for the state meet. He finished 30th.

Still, it bettered their performance from the prior season, which ended at league championships, and saw their average time among varsity runners drop from 17:41 to 17:11. In 2023, the Wildcats will return most of their varsity runners from last season, and will look for big breakouts from a few underclassmen.

In addition to Krejci (who ran 16:23 last season), the Wildcats will return co-captains Dallen Jensen and Gabe Schmitt. The junior and senior duo have already run faster than last season, dropping personal bests of 17:29 and 17:45 at the Fort Steilacoom Invite earlier this month.

■ Sept. 13: Mount Si @ Newport

■ Sept. 16: Fort Steilacoom Invite

■ Sept. 20: Mount Si, Redmond @ Bothell

■ Sept. 26: Issaquah, Woodinville @ Mount Si

■ Sept. 30: Nike Portland XC Invite

■ Oct. 7: Nike Hole in the Wall Invite

■ Oct. 12: Bothell, Inglemoor, Woodinville, North Creek @ Mount Si

■ Oct. 20: KingCo Championships @ Marymoor Park

■ Oct. 28: District Championships @ Lakewood High School

■ Nov. 4: State Championships @ Sun Willows Golf Course

Photo By Conor Wilson/Valley Record. Shammeer Khan captains the Mount Si boys tennis team.

Boys Tennis

Over his years coaching both the girls and boys tennis teams at Mount Si, Head Coach Paul Savage has prided himself on never having to cut students who try out. This fall was the first time he implemented them.

After hiring an assistant and volunteer coach, Savage is hoping to build up the tennis program by providing more individual attention to each of his athletes — hoping his team can better rival surrounding schools.

The results may already be showing up. Earlier this season, the JV team beat the always competitive Sammamish team 5 sets to 2.

“I attribute that to hard work, teaching strong skills and two assistant coaches spending good private time with each kid,” Savage said.

The future of the group also looks strong at the varsity level. Mount Si’s number one and number three singles players, Roy Maslov and Conner Smith, are both freshmen. Senior team captain Shammeer Khan and junior Arav Arora will also play varsity singles this season.

■ Sept. 5: Sammamish (L 4-3)

■ Sept. 7: Issaquah (L 6-1)

■ Sept. 12: @ Skyline

■ Sept. 14: @ Newport, (L 7 – 0)

■ Sept. 18: Sammamish, 4 p.m.

■ Sept. 21: Eastlake, 3:45 p.m.

■ Sept. 22: Bellevue, 3:45 p.m.

■ Sept. 25: Skyline, 3:45 p.m.

■ Sept. 26: Issaquah, 3:45

■ Sept. 28: @ Skyline, 3:45 p.m.

■ Oct. 3: Newport, 3:45 p.m.

■ Oct. 9: @ Eastlake, 3:45 p.m.

Volleyball

Toward the end of the 2022 season, the Wildcats volleyball team was just starting to hit their stride. After starting the season with new coaches at both the JV and varsity levels, Mount Si made a serious push for the postseason.

Ultimately, the late season surge came a little too late. The Wildcats fell just one win shy of making it to the district tournament.

Now, after a year of leadership changes, Head Coach Brady King said there’s a sense of calmness as they begin building upon last season.

From last year’s team, the Wildcats will return several key players including outside-hitters Maggie Kamp, Taylor Showalter and Harleigh King, as well as libero Sophie Lobet.

The current varsity squad is playing better than expected so early in the season and their chemistry is unrivaled.

“These girls have come together quicker than any team I’ve coached,” he said.

■ Sept. 2: Wenatchee, (L 3-0)

■ Sept. 2: Eastmont, (W 3-0)

■ Sept. 5: Tahoma, (L 3-2)

■ Sept. 7: Holy Names Academy (W 3-0)

■ Sept. 12: Bothell, (W 3-2)

■ Sept. 14: Eastlake (W 3-2)

■ Sept. 19: Issaquah, 7 p.m.

■ Sept. 21: Newport, 7 p.m.

■ Sept. 26: Skyline, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 3: Inglemoor, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 5: @ Redmond, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 10: @ Issaquah, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 12: Eastlake, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 17: @ Skyline, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 19: @ Newport, 7 p.m.

■ Oct. 24: @ Woodinville, 7 p.m

■ Oct. 26: @ North Creek, 7:15 p.m.

Girls Soccer

The stars are aligning at the right time for the Wildcats girls soccer team. Second year Head Coach Katie Deines-Krieger said this year’s team has the talent to make a deep run into the postseason.

“This is the most talented group I’ve ever coached,” she said. “This could be an historic year for us.”

Last year, the Cats finished fourth in an incredibly competitive KingCo Conference. The three teams who finished ahead of them — Woodinville, Issaquah and Skyline — all made it to the state-semi finals.

The Wildcats themselves fell in the first round of the district playoffs last year. Deines-Krieger, a former defender for the Seattle Reign, said this year’s team has the ability to best that performance and maybe even secure a spot in the state tournament.

So far this season, they are living up to those expectations. Even with sophomore Megan Ulrich and junior Giovanna Hansen, last year’s top goal scorers, sidelined with injuries to start the season, the Cats have outscored their opponents 21-1 over their first four games.

■ Sept. 5: Kennedy Catholic, (W 4-1)

■ Sept. 7: Ellensburg, (W 8-0)

■ Sept. 16: @ Cedarcrest, (W 3-0)

■ Sept. 18: Bellingham, (W 3-1)

■ Sept. 19: @ Mariner, 7:30 p.m.

■ Sept. 23: Lakeside, 1 p.m.

■ Sept. 26: @ Kentridge, 7:30 p.m.

■ Sept. 28: Redmond, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 3: @ North Creek, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 5: Bothell, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 10: Woodinville, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 12: @ Inglemoor, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 17: Skyline, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 19: @ Eastlake, 7:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 24: Issaquah, 7:30 p.m.

Girls Swim & Dive

The Mount Si swim team is smaller than it has been in prior years, but the goal remains the same for Head Coach PJ Stewart — get as many of his swimmers as possible to the postseason.

Last year, a third of the team qualified for the KingCo League Championships, and Stewart said they hope to replicate that this year.

The team will be led by Olivia Chau, who narrowly missed making the state meet last season, and holds records in the 200 meter freestyle and 100 meter breaststroke. Returning swimmers Aspen Sinnott and team captains House Schlotfeldt and Siena Nelson also qualified for districts last season.

Stewart said one strength of this team will be its relays, which helped the Wildcats secure a close victory over Bothell in their opening meet of the season. The 200 meter medley relay team in particular could challenge the school record of 2:00.95 set in 2017. The Wildcats came within two seconds of that record during their opening meet.

“Our relay was really strong last year and it looks like they’re picking up right where they left off,” he said.

■ Sept. 14: Bothell (W)

■ Sept. 21: @ Lindbergh

■ Oct. 3: Interlake, 8:30 p.m.

■ Oct. 12: @ Inglemoor, 3 p.m.

■ Oct. 19: @ North Creek, 3 p.m.

■ Oct. 28-29: KingCo Championships @ Mercer Island

■ Nov. 4-5: District Championships

■ Nov. 11-12: State Championships.