The Wildcats faced off against West Seattle at the Lower Woodland Park ballfields May 16 and came away with a 10-0 win.

By Michele Mihalovich Freshman Paige Wetherbee, with the Mount Si High School softball team, lets go after a windup in the third inning against Lake Washington High School during the 2012 Sea-King District Softball Tournament on May 17 in Seattle.

That win put the team up against Seattle Metro’s undefeated Bainbridge High School.

The Wildcats delivered the Bainbridge Spartans’ first loss of the year, 6-3.

The second day of tournament play on May 17 did not go so well for the Wildcats.

Mount Si lost, 8-6, against Lake Washington, and then 8-2 against Liberty High School.

The losses won’t prevent Mount Si from going to the State 3A Softball Championship beginning May 25 at the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey, but it will affect who they go up against.

The draw, held May 20, pits Mount Si (17-6) against Kamiakin (22-0) in the first matchup at noon May 25.

The last time these two played in March, the Kamiakin Braves won, 13-2.

Contributed Ginger Judge shows off some of the honors she has won.

The Mount Si Gymnastics Academy is barely a month old. Most gyms would still be finding their footing. MSGA is not most gyms.

Last month, it sent 13 girls to compete in the United States Association of Gymnastics Washington State Meet — a once-a-year, multiweekend spectacular with hundreds of girls competing at multiple levels of difficulty.

Led by coach Penny Loan, MSGA’s gymnasts returned with fourth- to 12th-place ranks, finishing in the top 50 percent of their age group.

Though the gym is brand new, the MSGA’s competitive team — and its determination to succeed — has been around for a while. Getting to the state meet this year wasn’t easy.

The team’s former gym closed its doors and moved away a few months ago, leaving the girls displaced with no place to practice and competition season upon them. Children who’d practiced together for years and prepared their 2012 routines for months were suddenly on the precipice of disbanding.

“There was a sense of being wronged,” Loan recalled. “It was really hard on the girls.”

Loan and her assistant coach, Kelly Loranger, chose to stick with the team. With the help of “a lot of very loyal parents,” Loan and Loranger kept the practices going, but every new location proved a new challenge.

While other teams trained in fully equipped native gyms, these girls crowded into small rooms at Mount Si High School.

There wasn’t enough gymnastics equipment for everyone to practice with at the same time, so Loan staggered the activities — half the girls would compactly condition with dumbbells, while the others practiced their routines.

Then, the girls spent four weeks training at Metropolitan Gymnastics.

Though the team was happy to be hosted by a facility with all the necessary equipment, practices were limited by Metropolitan’s operating schedule. The girls could only work when regular classes weren’t in session. In that piecemeal fashion, the girls trained up to 15 hours a week in preparation.

When the former gym’s location went on the market, some of the girls’ parents saw an opportunity to give the team a home.

Pete and Kathy Caro and Gary and Amy Norton had never owned a gym before. But they had daughters on the team and knew how much gymnastics meant to the Snoqualmie community.

“We really wanted to fill the hole left in the Valley,” co-founder Kathy Caro explained. Her 10-year-old daughter, Megan, has loved gymnastics since she could walk. “I wanted to see a place for her to continue to grow and thrive.”

After a monthlong battle for the lease, the building was finally theirs and the Academy was born. Ecstatic, the team moved in before the furnishings did. It took more creative thinking to keep the practices going during yet another transition. Instead of just waiting for a regulation floor to arrive, co-founder Amy Norton bought strips of mats from Costco, splicing them together for makeshift padding.

The girls headed off to the state meet with only three weeks of continuous practice in their own gym. But after months of uncertainty, they were determined to finish strong.

According to Loan, the struggle to keep going eroded distractions and brought the team closer.

Eight MSGA gymnasts competed in the Level 4 meet April 21 and 22, performing a compulsory USAG routine on bars, beam, floor and vault alongside about 500 other girls. Ginger Judge, 7, won fourth place in her Bronze Tier grouping with a cumulative score of 35.025, receiving special distinction for her high marks on bars and beam.

Her teammates performed admirably with fifth-, eighth- and ninth-place showings.

Another five MSGA girls faced tougher moves and competition in the Level 5 and 6 meets the following weekend. Sammy Markley, 10, was the only Mount Si gymnast to qualify for Level 6 competition, the hardest compulsory routine in the USAG before freely choreographed moves are allowed. With a sixth-place finish and a Most Improved Bar Routine award, Markley didn’t disappoint.

Loan couldn’t be prouder of all the girls.

“In some ways, the move made us stronger,” she said. “We wanted to get through the adversity and just prove that we could do it. Nobody was gonna take us down.”

The Mount Si Gymnastics Academy officially opened to the public April 9. In addition to nurturing the competitive team, the academy offers recreational classes to boys and girls, toddlers to teenagers. Already 150 students strong, MSGA hopes to expand its enrollment and programming in the coming months.

A gymnastics summer camp is already in the works and the owners are looking to start a dance program in the fall.

“I would like any kid with an interest in participating in gymnastics to have the opportunity to come here,” Caro said. “I want this to be a come-to place for people looking for great activities for their kids.”

Ilona Idlis is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Murphy, 18, made the varsity team her freshman year as a shortstop/second baseman, impressing her teammates and coach ever since.

Maura Murphy

“She’s a real leader for this team, both on and off the field,” head coach Larry White said. “Everyone who meets her just falls in love with her.”

Murphy signed on with The George Washington University in D.C. on a softball scholarship, which now could be in jeopardy, White said.

His voice cracked and he held back tears when he said, “She’s like a daughter to me. I’d hate to have to see her softball career end like this.”

Murphy said the east coast university approached her about playing softball.

The school had just hired a new coach who came from Western Washington University.

“He had seen me play and convinced them that they should take a look at me,” Murphy said.

Murphy, who plans to study pre-med in college, plays summer softball league and has been ever since she was “tiny.”

Last summer during a game, a runner ran into her on first base and her head “just smacked the ground,” Murphy said, which resulted in the first concussion.

Then this year, a friend at school who was just goofing around smacked the side of her head. She said he wasn’t trying to hurt her or anything, and it wasn’t really hard, but it did result in her concussion symptoms returning.

Murphy suited up in her number six uniform for all of the Wildcats’ games this season, and cheered her teammates on from the bench.

“This sport and this team mean the world to me,” she said. “Not being able to play has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”

Now, just as the Wildcats are heading into tournament season, Murphy won’t even be on the bench to cheer them on.

White said doctors want Murphy to lie down at lunchtime and go home after school and take it easy.

“It’s horrible,” she said May 8, after the Wildcats’ final regular season game and the last one she’ll be attending. “First, I wasn’t able to play. And now, not even being able to watch — it’s just so frustrating.”

White said doctors are trying to retrain her brain, adding that it’s everyone’s hope she recovers and the doctors will clear her to play at George Washington next year.

To honor Murphy, all Wildcats’ softball helmets will be sporting the number “six.”

The team won a hard-fought battle during the opening game against Peninsula, 2-1, but then lost the next round against Kelso, 5-2.

The first game was no easy win, coach Elliot Cribby said.

“All year long we’ve had long, close games facing good defensive teams,” he said. “Peninsula was another good game against a good team.”

Cribby said no one was too worried about the match up against Kelso. The team had an overall 18-7 season, verses the Wildcats’ 20-4 record.

“We had Reece Karalus on the mound, who’s been doing good all season. And we figured, we’re good. We got this,” he said.

But Kelso scored four runs in the first inning.

“That definitely took us by surprise and we never really recovered,” Cribby said.

Mount Si came into the season with a target on its back. The Wildcats won the school’s first state baseball championship title last year, and opened the season with national attention for its “Trio of Arms.”

All eyes were on senior pitchers Karalus, Trevor Lane and Trevor Taylor, who were credited, in part, for the state win last year.

“They are taking Saturday’s loss pretty hard,” Cribby said. “And they should. They have been putting a lot of time and effort in.”

He said the team was very quiet at the end of the Kelso game.

“It was a tough time for everyone because nobody expected to lose that early,” he said.

Cribby said he’s been telling the team that it’s really hard to repeat a state championship the following year.

“When you’re at the top of the totem pole, everybody wants to chop the top off,” he said. “Plus, all the media attention they got, that puts a lot of pressure on them. But I am so impressed with them, how they went out and played the games. There was luck involved, but we also had the talent. Twenty wins in a season is a very good season.”

Cribby said the outlook for next year’s program is good.

“We had a lot of sophomore and junior starters who will be returning,” Cribby said. “The caliber of senior pitchers we had this season was great, but we do have a crop of others who also have good arms. We’ll be just fine.”

Cribby also said the culture of Mount Si baseball has changed in the past couple of years.

“This is definitely a football community,” he said. “But baseball has been creeping up in their eyes. The support from this community has been terrific and we’ve really appreciated it.”

UPDATED: 12:44 p.m. May 17.

It was like watching a baby taking three steps before falling on his rump: The trip was short, the end painful, but you know this amazing journey is just the beginning.

The Mount Si Lacrosse team lost, 7-3, to the Three Rivers Coyotes from Richland in the Wildcat squad’s first playoff game in its three-year history.

Still, nobody’s head hung low after the game. A playoff game at home in front of a big crowd was the stuff dreams were made of two years ago, when the team closed its first season with no wins.

Now it was a reality.

“It’s one of the larger crowds we’ve seen anywhere other than football,” Wildcats’ lacrosse head coach Woodroe Kiser said. “This is not just parents, this is everybody.”

The team, he added, will return to the playoffs in 2013.

“Things are looking great for next year,” Kiser said. “All but three players are returning, and we had a strong J.V. season this year. The players will be fired up next year, ready to roll.”

This year, four players earned all-conference honors: Andrew Bottemiller, Matt Mahrer, Cameron Pike and Tyler Smith .

The loss to the Coyotes will serve as a learning experience for the Wildcats, said Kiser, whose team looked “a little flat” at the start of the game. The Coyotes came out strong and sought to take advantage of the hosts’ greenness.

The Coyotes scored four unanswered goals in the first quarter before Bottemiller scored for Mount Si. At the start of the second quarter, Three Rivers scored twice more before the halftime break.

Freshman defender Smith said the team’s youth factored in to its slow start.

“It’s the first time in our history,” he said. “We obviously felt a lot of pressure. We’re growing as a team but we probably needed more time to prepare.”

Kiser said he told his troops to make a game of it in the second half.

“I told the team at halftime, ‘I need to see your heart. I haven’t seen it yet and I know you have it,’” he said.

The team showed its heart by competing more in the second half. The Coyotes’ physical style of play prevailed, but the game did not turn into the laugher some feared at the start.

Blake Moorhead scored the second tally for the Wildcats. The Coyotes scored once more before Mount Si’s Smith added a little suspense with only a handful of minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Smith celebrated his goal by jumping and waving his arms. It looked a little strange with the team still down four goals, but Smith had his reasons.

“Last year in middle school, I was scoring a lot with the defensive stick,” he said. “This year is my first goal with a d-stick, and it happened in the playoffs, too. Pretty great feeling.”

When the horn signaling the end of the game sounded, nobody smiled. A loss is a loss, after all. This one felt different, though. Like the start of something good rather than a definitive judgment on what this team can and will accomplish. This baby will get back up, and who knows, maybe next time, he will just keep on walking.

“We’re still growing, this is our first year” in the playoffs, the Wildcats’ Sal Francisco said. “We’ll take it next year.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

By Calder Productions Mount Si High School’s Davis Karaica, right, battles for a ball against Juanita High School’s Jon Ellis on May 7. Karaica scored one of Mount Si’s two goals in a 3-2 loss to the visiting Rebels.

It’s over.

Ahead 2-0 in the first half, the Mount Si High School Wildcats’ boys soccer team surrendered momentum at the edge of halftime and never quite got it back.

The team who finished a point short from an outright berth to state gave up a goal with seconds left before the break and watched as Juanita mounted a second-half comeback to win, 3-2, in Snoqualmie.

“I don’t know what to say,” Wildcats head coach Darren Brown said. “This isn’t the way it was supposed to be.”

The loss ended the season for the Mount Si players including several seniors so talented, they had the Wildcats faithful and themselves thinking state from before the season’s first game against Issaquah.

“This was going to be the year,” assistant coach Ben Tomlisson said.

Instead, the season ended two weeks too early, with players collapsing in tears and Brown, 2012 KingCo Conference Coach of the Year, shaking his head at the idea of Sammamish and Juanita moving on. Mount Si was a combined 4-0 against Totems and Rebels during the season, though the Wildcats never won by more than one goal.

The game started with Mount Si setting the pace, with quick runs along the flanks. Juanita limited itself to counterattacks via Javier Macias and Genki Marshall. Still, nobody seemed too surprised when Mount Si’s Davis Karaica received a through-ball on the right wing from Dane Aldrich, and then nailed it low and past the keeper for the 1-0.

The game’s rhythm did not diminish and Wildcats keeper Hunter Malberg rose as one of the standouts of the first half, stopping a point-blank shot two minutes later.

Then, with a minute left in the half, Mount Si’s Chace Carlson housed an assist from Tyler Cruz, and channeled Brazilian star Roberto Carlos to fire a no-angle shot from 10 yards out on the right flank. The shot, intended as a cross, instead bounced off the right upright before going in — 2-0 Mount Si.

Fans had barely enough time to sit back down from celebrating Carlson’s jewel of a goal when Juanita’s Nick Horne left things 2-1, with a goal eerily similar to the second Mount Si score.

Although the second half started with Mount Si laying siege to Juanita’s goal, the Rebels successfully slowed the tempo down. Trusting more in their counterattacks and aided by a lenient referee, the scrappy Rebels tied the game with nine minutes left and then took the lead with four minutes left.

“It’s unfortunate how the game turned out,” senior midfielder Nate Popp said, later adding, “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t score another one, put them 3-1 down and then crush their spirits.”

Brown agreed.

“We had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity,” he said. “You leave any team, I don’t care who you are facing, with a 2-1 lead and they are in the ballgame.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

“Nobody sits on the sidelines,” he said.  “Everybody races on race day.”

Therrein, the coach of an Eastside composite competitive high school mountain biking team since the Washington High School Cycling League’s inception two years ago, said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The team took second place overall out of 19 teams at the Washougal MX Challenge on April 15 in Washougal.

Contributed Eastside Composite team member Silas Harrison navigates a curve in the trail during the Washougal MX Challenge on April 15 in Washougal, Wash.

Members of the team include four Mount Si High School students, as well as athletes from Issaquah, Skyline and Mercer Island high schools.

The Mount Si students are freshmen Nate Lewiston, Nick Larson, Joe Steenvroode and sophomore Boone Hapke.

Hapke finished the sophomore boys race in 58 minutes, 38 seconds, while Steenvroode, Lewiston and Larson finished the freshmen boys race in 47:48, 56:07 and 1:02:05, respectively.

The team competed for the third time this season at the Fort Steilacoom Invitational on April 29 in Lakewood before planning to attend the state championships May 20.

The team practices three times a week at various locations, including Duthie Hill Park, Grand Ridge Park and Soaring Eagle Park and includes riders from the freshman to varsity level for girls and boys.

Each race takes place on a cross-country course between four and five miles long, taking about an hour and 15 to an hour and 30 minutes to complete.

Therrein said the team focuses on strengthening skills in two areas: safe bike-handling skills and physical fitness.

“For us, it’s a no-cut sport,” he said. “We welcome anyone that wants to join the team. For our team, we have people that are brand new to competitive cycling. Some of them have never ridden a mountain bike or had never ridden a bike on a trail in their lives.

“We’re all out there together,” he said. “When the boys are out there racing, the girls are cheering them on. When the girls are out there racing, the guys are cheering them on. We encourage all of the families to come to events … it’s a very supportive environment.”

The team’s success wouldn’t be possible without Compass Outdoor Adventures, which provided bicycles to some of the team members who didn’t have them, and Gerks Ski and Cycle, which provides maintenance for the team at a discounted rate, Therrein said.

Christina Lords: 392-6434, ext. 239, or  newcastle@isspress.com.

If so, May 12 will remain a milestone for the Mount Si Lacrosse team regardless of how their game ends.

The three-year-old team will play its first playoff game that day against either Garfield or Three Rivers at home.

Game time will be posted at www.mountsilacrosse.org.

By Greg Farrar Beau Bachand, Mount Si High School midfielder, scores a goal against Roland Deex of Liberty High School during the third quarter for a 5-0 lead on the way to the Wildcats’ 11-3 lacrosse victory May 2.

The playoff berth crowns a terrific season for Mount Si. They won two combined games in their first two seasons. This year they have won 10 of 13.

“The season was a great success,” head coach Woodroe Kiser wrote in an email. “Our goal this season was to get to the playoffs so it was a success. We have a new goal now of winning this playoff game.”

Mount Si’s rise from winless in year one to playoff hosts in year three has caught the attention of other teams, Kiser wrote.

“Most of them want to know our secret for building the program,” he wrote, later adding. “Several of the coaches love how this program has grown. They love that we play fundamentally sound lacrosse.”

The keys, Kiser said, are having a clear goal, sticking with fundamentals of the game and making it fun.

“Realize that it isn’t easy,” he added. “It’s going to be really tough for a while.”

A solid youth program helps, too.

“You have got to have players in the pipeline,” he wrote.

A playoff year for the varsity will raise the expectations at the JV and C levels, he added.

The C team has struggled but the JV team had a 5-2-1 record entering their season finale against Gig Harbor.

The varsity team closed the season winning four of the last five matches, including road wins against Liberty and Gig Harbor.

Success like this does not happen in a vacuum, team captain Andrew Bottemiller said after the Liberty game. The team has worked for it.

“One thing that has helped us a lot is this is the first year where many of the players played in leagues other than spring league,” said Bottemiller, a senior. “We played during the summer and that helped us. Everybody got better individually.”

As a group, the team has improved, too.

“The difference is our chemistry,” freshman Tyler Smith said.

Kiser agreed.

“We have more game MVPs than season MVPs,” he said. “We are a team and from week to week different players have excellent games. If they key on one or two players, we have others that can pick up their games.”

The winner of the May 12 game will play the winner of a May 11 contest between Snohomish and Roosevelt, May 18, in the state quarterfinals.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

By Calder Productions Mount Si High School’s Erik Stai (right) jumps for the header against Interlake High School April 27. A win against Bellevue and a game at Mercer Island in the last game of the regular season would give Mount Si the 2012 KingCo Conference title. Kickoff at Mercer Island High School is at 7:30 p.m. May 4.

Mount Si High School Wildcats’ head coach Darren Brown, a self-described soccer junkie, has coached in and played in his share of big games.

Few, at least in his mind, reach the size and importance of the contest unfolding May 4 on Mercer Island, where his Wildcats might just snatch the KingCo Conference title from under the Islanders’ noses.

A win against Bellevue High School on May 1, and a win against the Islanders, would give Mount Si an identical record to the league-leading Islanders: 10 wins, two losses, two ties.

Since the two teams tied the first time they played each other in 2012, a Mount Si win May 4 gives the Wildcats the tiebreaker and the title.

If Mount Si beat Bellevue on May 1 and Mercer Island High School lost or tied Liberty High School that same night, Mount Si would become league champion just by tying the Islanders on May 4.

“I would pay to watch this game,” Brown said April 27.

He said he anticipated a crowd in the hundreds of people at Mercer Island High.

Students have increased their trash-talking on social media outlets prior to the game.

Law enforcement agencies have scheduled additional personnel for the night of the game.

The last time these two teams met, the double-overtime thriller had Brown calling it one of the best high school soccer games he had ever seen.

Both teams can score, with Mount Si laying eight on Lake Washington High School on March 27 and Mercer Island scoring nine times against Bellevue on April 24.

Both teams have endured a streak of injuries. Mount Si’s Brown said he hoped the April 27 1-1 tie game against Interlake was the last match without a full Wildcat contingent.

“I’m missing two of my captains right now,” he said.

While Interlake High School tied the Wildcats, the Sammamish High School Totems tied the Islanders 2-2, keeping Mount Si one point behind Mercer Island.

The May 4 match is the Islanders’ senior night. The school will say good-bye to 12 seniors that night, which will probably mean a late start for the kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

The league champion will earn an automatic trip to state. The first round of the playoffs begins May 7.

The pregame rain forced the conference matchup to be moved from the soggy Mount Si field to the Patriots’ turf ballfield in Renton. But the home-field advantage didn’t help the Patriots, who lost to Mount Si a second time this year on April 25.

It wasn’t until the second inning that any runs went up on the board.

By Greg Farrar Carson Breshears, Mount Si High School sophomore, grounds out in the fifth inning against Liberty, but earns an sacrifice RBI by scoring teammate junior Joey Cotto from third base. The Wildcats’ 4-0 lead held up for a 4-2 win April 25.

Patriots pitcher George Suddock walked Daniel Besmer and Wildcat Trevor Taylor hit a single. Evan Johnson got a good piece of the ball, but it was caught and Taylor was tagged out at second. The hit did allow Besmer to cross home for the Wildcats’ first run.

Zach Usselman took first base after Suddock’s pitch hit him in the back. He stole second base while Ryan Atkinson was at bat, and he ran home for a second Wildcats’ run when Atkinson hit deep into right field.

Joey Cotto’s hit bounced to the Patriots’ third baseman, who tossed him out at first, for Mount Si’s third out.

At the top of the third, Trevor Lane struck out Liberty batter Kyler Rose, and then right fielder Taylor made short work of the rest of the inning, catching an out-of-bounds pop up by Nick Short, and a hit by Garret Hughes.

Liberty held the Wildcats to only one more run in the bottom of the third inning.

Lane hit a hard infield drive to Liberty’s shortshop, but it popped out of his glove, allowing a single for Lane. He stole second while Reece Karalus was at bat, and then ran home after Karalus hit a double, making it 3-0 Wildcats.

The fourth inning was quick for both teams, with three up and three down on each side, but the Liberty defense shined in this frame.

Ben Wessel caught Johnson’s right-field fly and Usselman was tossed out at first. When Atkinson tried bunting, his ball caught just a little bit of air, enough for Liberty’s catcher to swoop a few steps toward third base for the catch.

In the fifth inning, black clouds were threatening to crash the party. However, the Wildcats’ Joey Cotto did manage a run over home plate, making it 4-0 Mount Si.

Patriot right-hand hitters had a tough time getting a piece of Lane’s left-hand pitches, sending a bucket of foul balls into the woods behind the visitors’ dugout.

Liberty coach John Martin said after the game that he decided to switch things up in the later innings by having batters bunt, which did result in more action on the bases than in previous innings.

“Trevor Lane is a very tough lefty pitcher,” Martin said. “Very stiff fastball and attacks the strike zone. We were not having much success at hitting him, so we starting to bunt and show bunt in the later innings.”

Karalus missed a tap by Monte Korsmoe, which bought him a place on first base.

But apparently Nick Short didn’t want any part of that bunting business, and he knocked Lane’s pitch out of the ballpark for a two-run homer.

”He is a big strong kid who put a strong swing on a really stiff fastball from Lane,” Martin said. “The result is the ball leaves the yard, no doubt when it came off the bat. This was Nick’s first home run of the season, but it will not be his last.”

However, Rose, the next batter, wasn’t so lucky.

Lane’s pitch thwacked into catcher Joe Done’s glove, signaling the third strike and the end of the game.

Seconds later, a clap of thunder announced the rain had waited long enough and it began to pour.

Lane said after the game that, even though they won, the Wildcats maybe weren’t as focused as they should have been because they had beat Liberty 7-0 earlier this season.

“We should be focused for every team we’re facing, and not going into a game thinking we’re going to roll over them,” he said.

By Sebastian Moraga Emmitt Rudd leaps during the long-jump competition at the Mount Si Invitational Meet.

We meet again, at the meet.

After a 23-year hiatus, the Mount Si Invitational Meet returned to life April 21 at Mount Si High School.

Teams from all over the Puget Sound area arrived to celebrate the revival of what once was a staple of the spring athletics calendar in the Snoqualmie Valley.

The hosts did themselves proud, not only with a picturesque day of cloudless sunshine, but by putting on good performances. The girls tied Marysville-Pilchuck for first place with 148 points.

Lexi Swanson broke her personal best in the pole vault with a 10-foot leap. The mark placed her as the state’s fifth-best vaulter among 3A schools.

Kristen Kasel broke her personal best in the discus twice in a row, finishing second. She also had a personal record at the javelin, finishing second with 92 feet, 10 inches.

She credited her discus streak to adjustments she has made to her throws, staying lower and using her legs for more momentum.

Her top discus mark for the day was 90 feet, 9 inches, still shy of her final goal for the season.

“A hundred-and-something,” she said with a laugh.

The boys finished fourth. Bradly Stevens broke his personal record in the discus with 130 feet, 6 inches — good enough for first place. He also won the javelin with 190 feet, 1 inch.

Emmitt Rudd broke his personal best in the long jump.

“I felt good today, came in feeling confident,” Rudd said, “and got a good height on the jumps.”

He finished eighth in the competition.

The star of the day, without doubt, was the meet itself. Long condemned to the history books after the deteriorating cinder track made it impossible to keep hosting the event in 1989, the return of the meet had a special meaning for those who saw its heyday and decay.

A coach at Mount Si since the 1970s, girls head track coach David Clifford digs the return of the meet more than most.

“To have been part of it for as long as I was and then to see the last one, and then to have it restarted again,” he said.

Clifford said the old cinder track had 10 lanes, so the old meets would have nine teams, plus Mount Si.

“We were having money issues back in the 1980s, and the district just didn’t have the money to maintain the track and upgrading it to where it needed to be,” Clifford said.

Thanks to a bond, the school renovated its track and field facilities seven years ago, into what Clifford calls a top-notch track and  “the envy of the KingCo league.”

Putting on a meet again took a while, though. The envy of the KingCo league has no lights or covered stands. Still, the itch to revive the meet never disappeared.

“We’ve been wanting to put on a meet out here for a while,” assistant coach Chris Jackson said.

Clifford agreed.

“This year, we said, ‘The heck with it, we’re going to figure out a way to get stands out here and we’re going to have it during the day,’” Clifford said. “It’s basically restarting and re-establishing a meet we had for many years.”

The newer track has eight lanes. The meet still gathered nine teams, as two of them are not co-ed.

Teams including Sequim, Snohomish, Graham-Kapowsin, Clover Park, Holy Names and powerhouse O’Dea showed up for the meet.

More than 130 parents, students and community members volunteered during the meet. That plus the fans and teammates gave Mount Si an edge. When Swanson leapt over the bar at 10 feet, fans exploded in cheers.

“It’s a home-field advantage,” Rudd said. “And it’s great to have all these people here.”

Both teams scored two runs in the first inning at the Mount Si ball field, and goose eggs in the next three.

The Kangs took the lead with three more runs at the top of the fifth frame, just as rain started falling steadily.

Mount Si High School’s Britney Stevens leads off first base as slugger Mickey Blad gets ready to swing in the April 17 game against Lake Washington High School. The Wildcats won, 11-5.

Lake Washington errors helped the Wildcats put two more runs on the board in the fifth.

Celine Fowler hit a ball that bounced between the Kangs’ pitcher and catcher, and while the two tried to decide who should grab the ball, Fowler was already at first base.

Lake Washington’s shortstop missed Britney Stevens’ single, and Rachael Picchena hit a ball deep to centerfield, which allowed Fowler and Stevens to run across home plate.

The top and bottom of the sixth inning was a game changer for the Wildcats.

Mount Si freshman Paige Wetherbee relieved starting pitcher Kendra Lee, and struck out all three Lake Washington batters.

But that was the only inning she pitched due to a hand injury in the following inning, when she tripped rounding first base.

The Wildcats took the lead in the sixth when seven batters scored runs.

Jenny Carroll hit a single, and Wetherbee’s left-field hit could have been a double if not for the trip over first base. But the hit did allow Carroll to run home, tying the game, 5-5.

Fowler tapped the ball infield for a single.

Mount Si slugger Mickey Blad was then at bat. She’s got a .606 batting average so far this season, a virtually unheard of average in high school fastpitch.

But her powerful stick didn’t matter this time as Lake Washington’s pitcher tossed four balls her way.

The Mount Si crowd, in a friendly ribbing gesture, clapped and cheered and shouted, “Way to walk Mickey. Way to walk.”

With the bases loaded, Lauren Smith hit a single toward third base, but the ball was dropped and Wetherbee crossed home plate.

Picchena hit an infield ball that slipped through the Lake Washington shortstop’s glove, with Fowler and Blad crossing home plate, for a score of 8-5.

Smith ran home after Tamarra Crowe hit a double.

Carroll’s infield hit was missed by Lake Washington at third base, which allowed Picchena to cross the plate. But a series of errors led to Carroll running all three bases and diving into home for an 11-5 score.

Lake Washington got three big hits off Lee in the final inning, but two outfield catches and a toss out at third base ended the game.

Mount Si’s league record now stands at 8-1, putting them in KingCo 3A’s second place spot, just behind the undefeated Juanita High School. Their next game will be at 4:30 p.m. April 26 against Mercer Island at Mount Si, and at 4:30 p.m. May 1 against Bellevue at Bellevue High School.

Washington State has sturgeon prowling its entire coast line and they make forays into many bays and rivers, including those in the Puget Sound area. However, the home rivers for sturgeon runs are predominantly the Chehalis and Columbia. Sturgeon have also been spotted in Lake Washington, and I have seen a photo of a dead sturgeon taken next to the Issaquah boat launch docks in Lake Sammamish.

Almost all Washington waters are open for catch and release of sturgeon. To keep sturgeon caught in the lower Columbia River the fish length must be 41 inches minimum to 54 inches maximum, as measured from snout to the fork in the tail. In the Chehalis River the keeper slot is from 38 inches to 54 inches.

Seasons to retain sturgeon vary on different reaches of the Columbia River system. The next season for the Ilwaco area on the lower Columbia River is May 12 through July 8. On the Chehalis River, sturgeon may be kept during other open game fish or salmon seasons. The retention limit for all catch areas is one per day.

Sturgeon feed in fresh water, usually seeking bait such as river-run smelt that have died off and are rolling along the bottom. They also eat crustaceans, and are fond of lampreys and their larvae burrowed into river bottoms. It was most probably lamprey larvae I imitated while fishing with night crawlers in the Snake River during my early adult years.

After my discharge from the Army, my wife, daughter and I became a student-family attending the University of Idaho. To enhance our impoverished larder, Dad suggested we fish for sturgeon below an Idaho Power dam on the Snake River near Hagerman. I gathered an ample supply of night crawlers for bait from our flooded lawn. The next evening Dad and I loaded the car and set off to fish at night.

After parking across the river from the fishing site, we had to climb up a steel ladder and walk across the dam walkway with our gear. Below the dam the plan was to cast out about 60 yards to have the bait rest just below a sandbar where fish, maimed and killed after passing through the turbine blades, were sought by the scavenging sturgeon.

We settled down by a shore fire to play checkers, awaiting the tinkle of small brass bells fastened to the tips of the rods. Dad’s bell tinkled several times from squaw-fish bites, but mine remained unusually silent. To check whether I had bait I reeled in after a half-hour and discovered that a large river clam had my bait and hook encapsulated inside its shell. To get revenge I shelled and hooked the clam body on the large hook with night crawlers dangling down. I cast the assemblage, resembling an octopus, back into the sandbar hole.

Shortly afterwards my bell rang noisily and I was onto a big sturgeon. After fighting it for 45 minutes while running up and down the bank, I turned the pole over to Dad who did a 15-minute stint. I finally grabbed the fish by the tail and dragged it onto shore with both of us whooping it up, for it measured 7 feet and a half-inch long. Then, there were no size restrictions so we departed for the dam with me carrying the 132-pound fish across my shoulders.

The dam keeper took pity and allowed us to carry the fish through the dam interior, past the noisy hydro-electric generators to the other side of the river. There, we attempted to load the fish onto or into the car.

Dad had just purchased a new Peugeot compact because he figured he could get better mileage on his job. It was so small and streamlined that there was no way we could tie the fish on the hood or top, nor even put in the trunk. We ended up stuffing the fish through a rear window into the tiny back seat with about 2 feet of shark-like tail sticking out.

The drive home was through the dark, sagebrush desert near Bliss, Idaho, and just after the bars at the truck stop had closed. Driving slowly because of the open window, we were passed by several cars and trucks.

Every vehicle slowed down for the occupants to take a second look. On one occasion, the driver slammed on his brakes, abruptly pulled over to the shoulder and turned out his lights; having just seen a huge shark being ferried across the desert in an alien vehicle. This was obviously to him an illusion induced by over-imbibing.

Whether eaten or traded for beef with the married rancher-students, the sturgeon was paramount in our getting through school that year.

Because of that memory, and the continued delight in eating this delicious fish, I look forward to casting my trussed up smelt into the Columbia River in mid May.

Reach Dallas Cross at FishJournal@aol.com or www.fishjournal.org. View previous articles and comment on this column at www.snovalleystar.com.

The opening includes the Iverson Railroad Grade, Northwest Timber and Preston Railroad Grade trails. The routes offer popular mountain biking opportunities for riders from Issaquah and the Central Puget Sound area.

Though the trails open for the season Saturday, road closures could affect recreation opportunities on Tiger Mountain.

On weekdays in April, crews plan to install culverts. The installation could prompt closures on the Main Tiger Mountain #4000 forest road and cause delays for outdoors enthusiasts using the road. Come mid-summer, crews plan to install a vehicle bridge on the West Side #1000 forest road. Officials said the project should require the closure of Iverson Railroad Trail for a few days.

Due to a heavy winter snowpack, the planned mountain bike trail in the East Tiger Mountain area is not likely to open until mid-summer. The state agency and the nonprofit Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance collaborated on the East Tiger Summit Trail project. Completion depends on volunteer labor.

The agency offers volunteer opportunities at Tiger Mountain and other state lands. Learn more at www.dnr.wa.gov/RecreationEducation/Topics/OtherRecreationInformation/Pages/dnr_volunteer_program_recreation.aspx.

By Greg Farrar Anthony McLaughlin, a basketball player at Mount Si High School, likes having picked basketball over all other sports, calling the sport his true love.

When he entered high school, Mount Si High School senior Anthony McLaughlin dropped all but one of his four sports, hoping to score a basketball scholarship to college.

When he entered his next-to-last year of high school, junior Kody Clearman dropped McLaughlin’s chosen sport, hoping to score a soccer scholarship to college.

McLaughlin no longer wants a scholarship. Clearman still wants one. They both stand by their decisions and love their sports.

McLaughlin said he loves basketball more than any other sport. Clearman loves soccer, but he misses basketball.

At high school campuses across America, including at Mount Si, student-athletes are choosing one sport, making some tough choices and turning their hobby into a year-round occupation.

Some did it for the scholarship; some did it seeking more schoolwork time. Some did it to be great at something instead of good at many things.

The payoff is high, and so is the risk.

A 2011 study by Loyola University in Maywood, Ill., showed that one-sport athletes are more prone to injury than multisport athletes, given the increased intensity and duration of their training.

Still, nobody said they regretted the switch, even after injury.

“I tore my ACL my junior year, so I didn’t get to play that season,” said senior hoopster Miles Zupan, who switched as a sophomore. “But it was a good decision. I would not take it back.”

Focusing on one sport, Zupan said, “would make me the best I could be.”

Senior Maura Murphy wrote in an email that she realized that if she wanted to play a sport in college, she would have to dedicate herself to that sport. She dropped volleyball, basketball and ultimately soccer to focus on softball.

“If I had not decided to focus purely on softball, there is no way I would be playing at GW in the fall,” she wrote in an email, referring to her college, George Washington University, which offered her a scholarship.

She added the scholarship was not a big factor. She had always been more into softball, she wrote.

McLaughlin said the scholarship was a factor at first, but no longer. He wants into the military.

He calls dropping baseball, football and track for hoops the best decision he could have made.

“That’s my true love, right there,” said McLaughlin, now torn between the Navy and the Air Force. “I was able to make friends, be on teams and go places I never would have had the chance to, just because of basketball.”

Others like Clearman, and his teammate Jon Cramer, miss their old sports. In Cramer’s case, baseball and golf.

“I miss having a variety of sports that I play, mixing it up a bit,” he said.

Cramer made the switch in the eighth grade. His knees hurt and every once in a while, his back hurts.

On the other hand, focusing on one sport helps Cramer keep his grades up, he said.

Besides, soccer is his favorite.

Murphy said she would play soccer again “in a heartbeat” if her day had a few more hours.

Clearman said he misses basketball. The attention he has drawn from college coaches at soccer tournaments makes the longing for the orange ball more bearable.

“We’ve traveled to multiple out-of-state tournaments, there’s been really good exposure with coaches,” he said.

Not even a broken pinky finger, sustained while playing soccer, dampened his enthusiasm.

Playing a sport year-round can be tough not just on the body but on the mind. Cramer said he is feeling “kind of burned out,” wondering if he perhaps should focus on what he wants to do when he grows up instead.

McLaughlin said burnout is just part of the deal when you make the switch.

“Anyone who plays a sport year round deals with that,” he said. “If you’re really that passionate with the sport, you can’t go a week without it that you won’t be craving it.”

High-schoolers pondering the switch must ask themselves whether what they want is to play one sport a year or one sport all year, McLaughlin said. The difference, he said, is in the commitment required.

“Focusing on softball meant that softball came before anything that wasn’t school work,” Murphy wrote. “Softball came before friends, or TV or parties, or any type of social thing that I wanted to do.”

Zupan echoed Murphy’s words. Either go all in, or don’t go at all.

“If you’re in it for the fun, play all the sports you want,” Zupan said. “If you’re trying to go somewhere with your sport, stay with one and work really hard at it.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Both teams claimed 5-0 conference game wins. And four of those wins were Wildcat shutouts. But when the dust settled Friday night, the Kangs won 4-1 and took control of the leader board.

Lake Washington rang up four runs in the first inning at Lee Johnson Field in Kirkland. Mount Si held the Kangs to that number, but wasn’t able to catch up in runs.

By Michele Mihalovich Mount Si High School pitcher Trevor Lane lets it go at the bottom of the third.

The bottom of the first inning looked promising when Mount Si pitcher Trevor Lane struck out the first two Kangs in the line up.

But Theo Alexander got a base hit and then Zach Johnson walked. Nick Johnson hit a high ball along the foul line to right field that was dropped by Wildcat Connor Swift, allowing two Kangs over home plate.

Shawn Gray hit a home run deep over the center field fence, bringing the total runs to four.

Lane finished up the inning with a third strikeout.

In fact, he struck out 12 Lake Washington batters this game, matching his strikeout record for the season so far. And he had a shut out in the fourth inning.

And even though Swift fumbled the ball in the first inning, he caught every ball that sailed into the right field after that, putting out six batters.

Lake Washington’s outfielders also had a good day, catching nine of the 10 power hits by Wildcats.

But they didn’t have a chance with one Mount Si batter. The one scored run was an impressive effort by Mount Si sophomore Zach Usselman, who hit a home run at the top of the fifth.

It was his first home run of the season, and in fact, Usselman said after the game, “I’ve been struggling on my hits this season, so it felt pretty good.”

The top of the seventh was the last chance Mount Si had of tying or beating the score.

Swift hit deep to center field, and Alexander dropped the ball, allowing Swift a double.

Joey Cotto tried to hit the same sweet spot in the outfield, but this time Alexander dove for the catch for Mount Si’s first out.

Usselman struck out and Gunnar Buhner’s hit bounced to third base and he was tossed out at first, ending the game.

Coach Elliot Cribby said after the game that his team put in a good effort, but the players are going to have to “take better care of the baseball.”

“That flyball to right field getting dropped hurt us,” he said. “But Lake Washington didn’t score again after the first inning, so I do think it was a great effort after that.”

Cribby said it’s tough breaking a winning streak, but “it happens. We’ll be ready for our next game.”

Mount Si’s next game is against Mercer Island at 6 p.m. April 20 at Island Crest Park.

“Connor Deutsch has been an integral member of our program  during his four years here at Mount Si High School,” Kinnune said. “His ability to play on both sides of the ball helped us tremendously.

“As a junior he started at cornerback and made two huge plays at the end of our Glacier Peak game that allowed us to enter the state tournament,” he added. “As a senior, he was our starting tailback earning first team all-conference.

“We wish Connor well. Cal Poly is a great fit.”

“See you Monday,” he said, and left the field.

The game, described by Brown as “embarrassing,” had ended in a 3-0 loss to the Patriots that hurt beyond the mere losing of a contest.

Mount Si entered the contest as the top team in the KingCo conference. It left it as the third-ranked squad. Mount Si entered the contest on a high from a 1-1 thriller against Mercer Island on April 10. It left it having one shot on goal against the Patriots.

More worrisome, the Wildcats started league play with a five-game winning streak. Since then, they have lost two out of three as of April 16.

The Patriots populated their back lines, playing the Wildcats with a 4-5-1, and stifling the creativity of the Mount Si squad at three-fourths of the field.

“It’s the only time we do this, when we play Mount Si,” Liberty coach Darren Tremblay said of the tactical formation that puts four defenders, a crowded midfield of five and a lone forward on the pitch.

“They play 4-3-3, so there’s nobody out wide and we can match up man-to-man in the middle,” Tremblay said.

The Patriots’ scoring began in the 50th minute, when freshman Connor Noblat scored off a pass from Jared Bales. Ten minutes later, Josh Johnson scored off an assist from Eric Warlick.

With two minutes left, senior Zach Lentini sealed the win with a rocket off the crossbar.

“It was a total team effort,” Tremblay said. “Every guy played well.”

Brown painted a different picture of the contest, saying his team did not show up to play against the Patriots.

“I think it’s our lack of focus,” he said. “Lack of being ready before a game. We just did the same thing over and over again. We were predictable.”

The Wildcats showed up with three starters out with injuries and a bench composed of a backup goalie and two field players. Brown offered no excuses, though. Instead, he lamented the drop in the standings halfway through the season.

“We shot ourselves tonight, man,” he said. “We went from first to third.”

Next up for the Wildcats was a game April 17 at Sammamish. They return home April 19 to face Lake Washington. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com. 

By Michele Mihalovich Mount Si High School pitcher Trevor Lane strikes out Mercer Island batter Cameron Ogard in the fourth inning April 4.

The Mount Si High School baseball team won its second conference game with only one run against Mercer Island High School on April 4.

The run didn’t come until the bottom of the fifth inning, but both teams had trouble even getting a player to first base.

Mount Si pitcher Trevor “Deuce” Lane struck out 10 Islanders, just shy of beating his record of 12 earlier this season.

Mercer Island pitcher Max Dammeier claimed a few strikeouts against Wildcat batters, but four of his pitches struck Mount Si players.

Evan Johnson appeared to be a magnet for Dammeier’s wild pitches, getting struck twice, and Brian Woolley got clocked pretty hard in the helmet.

Mount Si Coach Elliot Cribby said Woolley was fine after the hit.

Woolley was pulled from the game so he could be checked, and Cribby said Woolley’s eyes, speech, memory and physical ability all indicated that he wasn’t suffering from a concussion.

The bottom of the fifth frame was a pivotal point in the game.

Carson Breshears hit a nice drive to right field, which got him on first base.

However, when he tried to steal second base, he was tagged for the team’s first out.

Ryan “Rhino” Atkinson walked to first base, and managed to steal second base just prior to Lane striking out.

Reese Karalus and Daniel Besmer were both walked, loading the bases with Wildcats.

When Johnson was up to bat, Mercer Island’s catcher Cameron Ogard missed a pitch, allowing Atkinson to cross home plate, for Mount Si’s first and only run of the game.

Johnson did get an infield hit, but he was thrown out at first for the third out.

Neither team scored after that.

Cribby said the team will be working on offense to try to improve their game.

The Wildcats’ next game is at 7 p.m. April 13 against Lake Washington at Lee Johnson Field, Peter Kirk Park, 202 Third St., Kirkland.

Spring has taken its time appearing in the Snoqualmie Valley this year and the cold has affected the practices of Clifford’s squad.

“Wet, it’s not a problem as much as the cold and it has been an unusually cold March,” he said. “It’s been a problem especially for the sprinters and jumpers.”

For pole vaulters and hurdlers, it’s just flat dangerous, Clifford said, adding that he has had to cancel some practices.

“It’s just a drag on everything,” he said.

By Sebastian Moraga The Mount Si High School track team enjoyed its first chance to practice in warm weather in what seemed like ages April 9. The team, despite an uneven practice schedule due to the cold, has put on a respectable show during the first third of the 2012 season.

To the team’s credit, students have shown enough work ethic to overcome an uneven practice routine and post some good results.

More than half of the girls showed up for the voluntary practices over spring break.

The girls have won all of their dual meets.

“We’re competing well,” Clifford said of the girls. “We’re 3-0 so far and we have a lot of young kids. We only have four seniors.”

Daniele Curley (a junior), Hailey Johnson (a freshman), Hannah Richmond (a junior) and Lexi Swanson (a senior) are tied with Bellevue’s Michelle Louie and Interlake’s Savanna Stern for second in the KingCo Conference in pole vault, according to the Athletic.net website.

Senior Sally Miller and freshman Karlie Hurley rank among the top three long jumpers. Sophomore Sydney Leonard ranks third in KingCo in shot put. The 4×100 relay team of Johanna Cranford, Jesse Guyer, Hurley and Sophie Rockow ranks second. Junior Ashley Jackson is third in the 300-meter hurdles.

The boys have held their own against some tough competition, sporting a 2-1 record in KingCo.

The squad includes underclassmen among some of its potential stars, like freshman sprinter Sean Hyland and sophomore hurdler Jon Proctor. Both are ranked in the top 10 in KingCo.

That’s fine, Clifford said, but it underscores a gap between the Wildcats and some of the powerhouses in the district, like SeaKing’s O’Dea and KingCo’s Liberty.

In boys, Liberty has almost 30 top 10 entries. Four belong to underclassmen.

Among upperclassmen, junior Wildcat pole vaulter Jimbo Davis ranks fourth in the conference. Senior Brian Copeland ranks fourth among shotputters.

Junior Bradly Stevens ranks first in javelin and second in the 110-meter hurdles as of April 10.

More than 110 athletes turned out for track this season. One of the larger turnouts in the league, although with a young squad, coaching them can look a little like herding chickens, Clifford said. Now the herd faces what Clifford calls the meat of the season: April 12 at Bellevue, April 14 at Snohomish’s Larry Eason Invitational, April 14 a dual meet at home against Interlake and then April 28 at Shelton’s invitational.

“They are a good group of kids,” Clifford said, later adding, “We don’t have a shot at winning the league, but I think we have a shot at being in the top three.”

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Kathy Hyland, just one parent of many who helped organize the effort, said the parent-led work group is not affiliated with the high school or any other group.

“It is independent and run by players and their parents” so the players can help pay the Pay-to-Play fees, which went from $125 two years ago, to $175 last year.

This year’s fees have yet to be announced.

Contributed Mount Si High School linebacker Bryce Abbott does yard work to earn money for football fees through a parent-led effort called Wildcat Workers for Hire.

Hyland said the football players “have decided to get back to the good ol’ work ethic of doing odd jobs to raise the money for their football costs to help their families out.”

The players started doing odd jobs in March and plan to continue through June.

Hyland said a lot of the workers have been doing various yard work projects, including removing storm debris, pulling up brush and weeds, and raking leaves and pine needles.

But car washing, pet sitting, spreading bark mulch and mowing are also on the menu.

Hyland said a parent volunteer goes out with the players at each job.

About the only thing the parents won’t let the boys do is work on ladders.

“So, no jobs like cleaning gutters,” she said. “We want to keep our boys safe.”

Raven Rhys, of North Bend, recently hired Wildcat Workers to take care of her “greatly neglected” yard.

“We finally surrendered and decided to delegate a variety of projects,” she said. “It’s so hard to believe how much they did for us … I can look out my window in every direction and my yard is clean, which is saying a lot up here after the number of storms we’ve had.”

Rhys paid $10 per hour for each boy.

“I’m so excited we have a local option to help us out with the variety of tasks that we never seem to get to,” she said. “And our money helps these kids who are working so hard on their goals. It’s just a win-win.”

Anyone hoping to donate to the cause in return for odd jobs should email organizers at WildcatWorkers@hotmail.com or call 445-8173.

By Chris Smith Mount Si’s Mitchell Smith jumps five feet, six inches for a new personal record March 22 against Juanita. Smith finished tied for second with teammate Jon Proctor and the Rebels’ Christian Robertson.

Mount Si High School’s track team defeated Sammamish and Lake Washington in a three-team meet in Snoqualmie on March 29.

The Wildcat girls earned 106 points to the Saints’ 32 and the Kangs’ 51. The Wildcat boys earned 99 points to the Saints’ 43 and the Kangs’ 38.

The result bodes well for the rest of the Wildcats’ track season, which began with a fourth-place finish for the girls’ team at Arlington’s Chuck Randall Relays on March 17, a two-spot improvement from 2011.

The team then traveled to Juanita on March 22, with another good showing for the girls, who beat the hosts, 77-68. The boys lost, 83-62.

Against the Rebels, the foursome of Madeleine Hutchison, Christina Volken, Abbey Bottemiller and Sally Miller won the 400-meter relay split and the 4×400 relays, with a time of 4 minutes, 27.1 seconds.

Hutchison (64.5 seconds) and Volken (67.8 seconds) finished 1-2 in the 400 meters and Bottemiller finished first in the 800 meters with 2 minutes, 33 seconds.

Mount Si’s Bailey Scott also won the 1,600 meters with 5 minutes, 50.3 seconds. The Wildcats’ Ashley Jackson won the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, with respective times of 18.1 seconds and 49.6 seconds.

Then, two days before spring break, on a day that looked nothing like spring, the team put on another strong performance against KingCo Conference foes Lake Washington and the Sammamish Totems.

Mount Si’s Karlie Hurley finished first in the 400 meters with a wind-aided mark of 1 minute, 4.7 seconds. She also won the long jump with a mark of 14 feet, 5 inches.

Teammate Lexi Swanson won the pole vault, with a mark of 8 feet, 6 inches. Volken won the 800 meters with a mark of 2 minutes, 33.7 seconds. Miller won the triple jump, leaping 30 feet 11 inches. Scott won the 1,600 meters with 5 minutes, 58.9 seconds.

The Wildcats’ Velvet Weber won the shot put (26 feet, 5.5 inches) and Kristen Kasel (81 feet, 1 inch) won the discus.

Among the boys, Jimbo Davis won the 100 meters in 11.62 seconds, and the pole vault with 10 feet, 6 inches.

Bradly Stevens won the 110-meter hurdles in 16.72 seconds, wind-aided, and the javelin with 174 feet, 1 inch.

The team of Davis, Stevens, Kailund Williams and Sean Hyland won the 4×100 relay, with a time of 46.6 seconds.

Brian Copeland won the shot put, with a mark of 43 feet, 7.5 inches. AJ Brevick won the discus with a mark of 109 feet, 6.5 inches, and Jon Proctor won the high jump, with 5 feet, 4 inches.

Next up for the team is a home meet against Bellevue on April 12 and the Larry Eason Invitational at Snohomish High School on April 14.

The Wildcats won, 19-3, when the referee called the game in the fifth inning.

The Mercy Rule generally kicks in when one team is ahead by at least 10 runs in the fifth inning.

By Michele Mihalovich Mount Si High School softball pitcher Lauren Padilla pitches a three up, three down in the second inning against Sammamish High School of Bellevue.

Totems pitcher Iesha Banks pitched the entire game, despite walking 12 Mount Si batters, with three of them sauntering over home plate because of loaded bases.

The first inning started off with Mount Si getting four runs, and another four in the second.

Eleven more Mount Si runs were scored in the third inning, including a home run hit by Mickey Blad over the right field fence, which also brought home Kendra Lee and Eleni Trull for a 19-0 score.

Mount Si head coach Larry White described the hit as a “monster” home run.

Banks started showing some improvement in the fourth inning, pitching her first strikeout of the game, and holding Mount Si at 19 runs.

The Totems rallied in the fifth inning, and eliminated a skunking by scoring their first runs of the game.

Mount Si pitcher Lauren Padilla had struck out the Totems’ first batter, but catcher Britney Stevens dropped the ball and the batter ran to first.

After a couple more hits, bases were loaded with Totems. So when Padilla walked the next batter, Sammamish’s Abby Gomer walked over home plate for the team’s first run.

Another big hit resulted in two more Totems running over home plate.

But after their third out, the game was called.

This was the seventh win for Mount Si out of eight games this season.

White said after the game that he’s happy with the start of the season.

“We have a very young team that is struggling through some key injuries to players that we were counting on to have a big season,” he said.

“Lauren Padilla, in her first start of the 2012 season, did a good job of throwing strikes and giving our defense a chance to make plays for her,” White said. “Junior Mickey Blad continues to impress with her bat … and Britney Stevens continues to hit the ball very well.”

But White said he’d like to see the Wildcats become more consistent on the defensive side of the game.

“We are relying too much on our offense to carry us,” he said. “It is our goal to continue improving as the season goes along. We have a great group of players that get along very well. Should make for an exciting second half of the season.”

Michele Mihalovich: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Granted, it’s a short history, with the team starting play in 2010, but the current upswing of the helmeted boys in red is still stunning.

They won zero games in 2010; they won two games the next year. Five games into the 2012 season, their record is 4-1 with six league and two nonleague games to go.

Wins have included a 10-5 drubbing of Liberty, a 12-2 beating of North Kitsap, and a 9-8 nail biter at Redmond. Then, a 9-3 victory against South Kitsap had a special flavor to it. The boys from the Peninsula became the first team to lose two matches to the Wildcats. The last game of 2011 was a victory against South Kitsap, too.

“There’s a first time for everything,” Mount Si head coach Woodroe Kiser said.

All of that winning makes Kiser smile the smile of a man who saw all of this coming, even if nobody else did.

At the end of the 2011 season, Kiser predicted that the season-finale win would give his team confidence entering the 2012 campaign.

The team has shown confidence and poise even in losing efforts, playing Overlake tough on the road before finally yielding, 11-8.

“This is the third year of the program and a lot of these kids have been playing for a couple of years now,” he said. “They are getting better. It’s all part of the development of their game, starting to understand what they need to do.”

Having 50 children in the program also helped, raising the competition level for varsity positions, Kiser said.

What lies ahead won’t get easier, but the team is off to a great start and winning breeds more winning.

Gone are the days, Kiser said, that a 14-1 drubbing at the hands of Ballard was OK because the team was learning and growing. Now the team is expected to compete.

“The players’ expectations are higher and the coaches’ expectations are higher,” he said. “Now they want to win. It’s still fun, but they want to win.”

Games ahead include home contests against Port Angeles (April 14), Overlake (April 18) and Redmond (April 27). Road games include trips to Klahowya (a school in Silverdale), Everett High School, Liberty and Gig Harbor for the season finale May 5.

By then, Kiser said he hopes to have a much different story to tell from how the last two seasons have ended.

“We are thinking playoffs,” he said. “We’ll think about where we want to go after we make the playoffs. We want to get there first. We’re still learning how to win.”

By Michele Mihalovich Mount Si pitcher Trevor Taylor winds up for a pitch on March 23 against Redmond High School. He struck out three batters over five innings pitched.

A Mount Si triple play ended the game in a 5-3 win against Redmond High School March 23.

Mount Si pitcher Ross Tassara dove and caught a bunt, hit by Redmond’s Cody Beliel, for the first out. Tassara then threw the ball to shortstop, Ryan Atkinson, who got the force at second and then tagged out the advancing runner from first base.

“Triple plays are very rare and I have never actually been a part of one, let alone to end a game,” coach Elliot Cribby said after the game.

But it took the Wildcats until the sixth inning before it rallied against the Mustangs.

Redmond had three players cross home plate in the second inning, and it wasn’t until the third that Mount Si saw its first run of the game.

At one point in the bottom of the third, the bases were loaded with Wildcats.

Gunnar Buhner’s pop up was caught by Redmond’s Peter Hendron for the first out. But Wildcat Joey Cotto hit a grounder to centerfield and made it to first base.

Redmond pitcher Kirk Gysler then walked Ryan Atkinson and Carson Breshears. Evan Johnson’s hit allowed Cotto to cross home plate, for the Wildcat’s first run, but catching its second out at second base. Mount Si missed its chance of possibly tying the game when Trevor Lane blasted a powerful hit right into the Redmond centerfielder’s glove.

Neither team got any runs in the fourth or fifth innings.

Mount Si started rallying in the sixth inning after Redmond switched pitchers.

Breshears and Joe Done were both walked. This time, Lane hit the ball to deep center and the centerfielder missed the catch, allowing him to get on base and Breshears to cross home plate.

Reece Karalus bunted the ball, sacrificing himself to keep Done and Lane on bases.

Conner Jensen then hit the ball to centerfield, and Done and Lane made two runs.

Redmond switched pitchers again, but Daniel Besmer hit to right field and Jensen ran over home, making it 5-3 Mount Si.

“We’ll take the win, but we are not satisfied,” Cribby said. “We came out really flat with a poor approach at the plate. Redmond’s pitcher shut us down because we were swinging at his pitches and not our own. But there was no panic button and we rallied in the last two innings.”

He said, “We had a quality start by Trevor Taylor and our bench stepped up at the end of the game, which was huge.”

Michele Mihalovich: 392-6434, ext. 246, or editor@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.

Three from the 2011 team returned, but Proudfoot said they lost one because of a medical issue, three graduated, two moved away and one decided to join track instead.

Contributed by Dominique Knoppi Mount Si High School golfer Kylie Pfiffner, a freshman, lines up to swing at hole four at Mount Si Golf Course. Mount Si hosted a four-school jamboree at the golf course March 19.

This year’s team includes five freshmen, four of whom hadn’t even touched a golf club before joining the team, Proudfoot said.

But at a March 19 jamboree hosted by Mount Si at Mount Si Golf Course, Proudfoot said the girls did pretty well.

“They were pretty raw,” he said. “They did what I would have expected for only practicing for 10 to 15 days. But they played better than I’d hoped.”

At practice, he worked with the girls on just hitting the ball and becoming familiar with the clubs.

Lake Washington, Juanita and Interlake played with Mount Si during the jamboree, which Proudfoot described as a practice session.

He said it’s a great way for the girls to “feel confident in the order of play and game etiquette. Once they get that, the big focus will be on the short game – putting and chip shots – where they can really shave off strokes. I’m working my more experienced players on the same thing. We saw a lot of missteps at the jamboree on chipping and putting.”

His youngest sibling, Katrina Proudfoot, is one of the freshmen on the team. He said the two of them have never played golf together.

“She hadn’t shown interest before high school,” Proudfoot said. “And then she debated between tennis and golf.”

Golf won, and he said she brought three very athletic friends to the team.

“My goal here is to make sure that they are enjoying the game,” Proudfoot said. “We are a young team. But if I can inspire them to play throughout the year, then hopefully they will keep improving. This is a building year.”

By Greg Farrar Dane Aldrich (2), Mount Si High School senior forward co-captain, kicks the ball away from Issaquah High School senior Drew Tacher early in the second period of their March 15 soccer match.

Whatever notion the Mount Si High School Wildcats had that this season would be easy lasted 15 seconds.

In the 16th second of their match against visiting Issaquah High School, the Eagles stunned the Wildcats with a score.

To their credit, for the next 20 minutes the Wildcats pressed the Eagles until the tying tally came along, and then pressed some more.

In the end, the 1-1 tie was a fair prize for two teams that showed focus, heart and talent, even early in the 2012 season to serve soccer fans with a fine contest.

“I love playing Issaquah,” Mount Si Head Coach Darren Brown said. “We always have good battles.”

The fans were still trickling in from the parking lot when Issaquah’s Alex Shane sank a low shot past the Mount Si goalie from about 14 yards out on the left flank.

“I was really pleased with the way we played,” Issaquah Head Coach Jason Lichtenberger said. “We possessed the ball really well, we defended well.”

Touched in its pride, Mount Si responded by cornering the boys in purple. With 21 minutes left in the half, a cross shot from Mount Si’s Dane Aldrich on the left wing found Chace Carlson’s head in the heart of the box. The header rocketed past the Eagles’ keeper for the 1-1.

While the hosts kept pressuring, the Eagles woke back up, and the game became an entertaining battle of wits between two teams with high hopes for the season.

The second half could have ended even better for the Eagles, but two last-minute hurrahs late in the second half ended up kissing the posts.

“Issaquah was 12-5 last year,” Brown said. “They are a great team.”

Both teams, Issaquah at 4A and Mount Si at 3A, want to not just play well but to take the KingCo crown this year. Mount Si compounded its feisty tie against the Eagles with a beating of the 4A state champs Eastlake, 3-0, March 17

“This is a good bunch,” Brown said after the Issaquah match. “They are competitors. They compete. And that’s all I ask.”

The season opener was against Liberty on March 20. The Mount Si Wildcats’ next game is March 23 at home against Sammamish. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.

Davis is a wide receiver and cornerback, Malberg is a wide receiver and safety, and McLain is a tight end and defensive end.

Contributed Hunter Malberg (from left), Griffin McLain and Jimbo Davis, three juniors from the Mount Si High School football team, will play in the Badger 7 on 7 tournament in Las Vegas.

Kinnune said the three are playing on two different teams at the Las Vegas event. Malberg is playing for a team that was put together by Scout.com, while McLain and Davis are on a team that was selected by Barton Academy.

Almost every state will be represented at the event and some of the country’s top athletes will be in attendance, along with top college scouts in the stands taking it all in, Kinnune said.

“These student athletes have made this opportunity for themselves,” he said. “The exposure this event offers should open avenues they didn’t have before. I am proud that they took it upon themselves to seek out opportunities to improve their chances at playing college football.”

Cheer coach Jessii Stevens said the clinic, which costs $40, is open to all current eighth- to 11th-graders interested in becoming cheerleaders.

She said participants will dance, and go over motions and jump technique, as well as stunting and tumbling for all skill abilities.

Participants will meet and receive feedback from Mount Si Cheer coaching staff, meet other tryout candidates and talk to current cheerleaders.

Stevens said the clinic is a great opportunity to get a head start on tryouts, which begin April 12.

Registration forms can be found at www.mountsicheer.weebly.com or email Stevens at raisioj@yahoo.com.

USA Today released its 2012 Super 25 baseball regional prep rankings March 7, and listed Mount Si as number seven in the West division, the only Washington team that made the list.

See the USA Today rankings at www.highschoolsports.net/sports/preps/baseball/poll/story/2011-09-06/2012-regional-rankings/53401084/1.

“There may not be another team in Washington that can trot out a trio of aces like Mount Si can this spring,” ESPN, which ranked the Wildcats as the No. 1 team in Washington, said. “ESPNHS All-State hurlers Reece Karalus, Trevor Taylor and Trevor Lane are back to try and capture back-to-back Class 3A titles for the Wildcats.

“Mount Si went 22-3 last season and defeated a loaded Sherwood squad in the finals.”

See the ESPN preseason rankings at http://espn.go.com/high-school/baseball/team-rankings/washington.

In ESPN’s West regional rankings, Mount Si just made the list, hitting No. 20 on the top 20 preseason rankings.

Again, it was the only Washington team to make the list. See those rankings at http://espn.go.com/high-school/baseball/team-rankings/west.

Last month, the Wildcats were named the 27th best high school baseball team in the nation by Baseball America.

See that list at www.base-ballamerica.com/today/high-school/team-rankings/2012/2613018.html.