EDITOR’S NOTE: Here is our final Mount Si spring sports preview for you now. We’ll try to get you a Cedarcrest preview this upcoming week.
Mount Si’s track and field teams look strong this season, and with a lot of new faces, the program’s future is also looking good.
Back for his third season coaching the boys is Gregg Meyers and back coaching the girls, as he has been for over 30 years now, is Dave Clifford. Clifford expects a strong season from the girls’ team. “We’ll be competitive again. We’ve got a good younger group out,” he said. He added that the program’s turnout has gone up, with around 42 kids turning out this spring, an increase of approximately ten from 2011. Senior Lexi Swanson is in awe. “Oh, so much new talent, I’m really excited about it,” she said.
Among the top returners on the girls’ side include several seniors. Sophie Rockow and Sally Miller both are expected to lead the Wildcats this spring in various events, and other seniors to watch include Swanson and Lindsay Kirby. Rockow and Kirby will be anchoring sprinting events while Swanson will handle the pole vault.
The boys also have some quality returners this spring. Their main strength appears to be in throwing events, with seniors Kolton Auxier and A.J. Brevick leading the way, and junior Brad Stevens also chipping in to help the efforts there.
Among the newcomers this spring is boys’ junior Cole Palmer. Palmer hopes fans look for a strong team this spring.”I think you can expect a lot. it’s a really solid team,” he said. He added that camaraderie with his friends was a big reason he came out. “A lot of my friends decided to do it and I needed something to do with my time, so I decided that track would be a good thing,” he said.
Distance events also are expected to be a strong suit for the Wildcats, with several top runners from the cross country program coming out and competing. Those include on the boys’ side, senior Ryan Olson and juniors Dominick Canady and Tim Corrie, and on the girls’ side, junior Christina Volken, and sophomores Abbey Bottemiller and Bailey Scott.
The league favorites look to be Bellevue, Juanita and Mercer Island, with Mount Si’s girls looking to be in the middle of the pack, and the boys likewise as well.
A new feature this spring to the Mount Si schedule is one that coaches hope becomes a new tradition, with the Mount Si High School track facilities being regarded as some of the best in the state. For the first time in around 20 years, the Wildcat program is hosting its own invitational meet. This meet is scheduled to take place Saturday, April 21, and currently, six teams, including the host Wildcats, have entered this event. There are two additional teams that have yet to enter; those will be announced later. As of right now, though, among the other teams which have entered is Mount Si’s former Seamount League rival Hazen, and the event has also drawn three 4A teams and 2A Sequim into the fold.
The Wildcats are also scheduled to have home meets against Lake Washington and Sammamish March 29, Bellevue April 12 and Interlake April 26. Mount Si is also scheduled to compete in the Eason Invite up in Snohomish and the Shelton Invite down in Shelton, so once again, the Wildcat schedule may be among the best in the state.
