Lion Sports Update (1/3)

BASKETBALL
The varsity basketball team had a very busy end to 2023. The team began the winter break with a trip to Memphis, where alum Taylor Jenkins ’03, head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, rolled out the red carpet in every way. From spending time with the team after his Grizzlies played a dramatic game against the Houston Rockets, to hosting a shootaround the following morning, to providing a few inspiring words in the Lions’ pregame locker room, Taylor’s deep appreciation of his alma mater was on fullest display. Two weeks later on Dec. 30, 25 other alums showed their devotion to their alma mater by returning to campus for the annual alumni game. Sandwiched between those two fun events, the basketball Marksmen competed in the 83rd annual Dallas Independent School District’s holiday invitational held at various venues across south Dallas. The Lions enjoyed a gritty win over defending 5A state champs Kimball (read more about that game HERE) in the round of 16 but faltered against Woodrow Wilson in the quarterfinals. Junior Luke Laczkowski was named to the all-tournament team for scoring more than 100 points in the event. This week, the squad hosts HSAA Thursday and then 4A state-ranked Anna on Friday before traveling to Connally HS on Saturday. 


SWIMMING
Prior to the Christmas break, the second meet of the season saw the Lions’ varsity swim team taking on fellow SPC power Austin St. Stephen’s who took second place to the Lions at the SPC championships last year losing by a close 7 points.  In the first event of the evening the Spartans would come out on top as they did in last year’s SPC championship with a 200 medley relay time of 1:40.42 out touching the Lions by almost 1.5 seconds. The Lions would go 2,3 in the event.  In the 200 freestyle, it was again the Spartans winning with a 1:45.56, however junior Sebastian Illum and sophomore Miller Martin would again go 2,3 with Illum going 1:48.08 and Martin just slightly slower at 1:48.63. In the 200 IM, the Lions would find the top spot with sophomore Ethan Wang taking the event with a 2:01.28, second place was St. Stephen’s with a 2:08.90, and then sophomore Oliver Geheb would take 3rd with a 2:09.79. The Lions would take the top two spots in the 50 freestyle with Miller Martin taking the top spot with a 22.22 and senior co-captain Adrian Lutgen taking 2nd with a 22.61.  St. Stephen’s came in third with a 23.59 barely out touching senior Adam Kappelman and junior George Hoverman who were 23.64 and 23.73, respectively.  

In the 100 butterfly, Ethan Wang was at it again dominating the field with a 52.60.  St. Stephen’s took second with a 55.34, narrowly out touching freshman Armaan Newaskar and his 55.64.  In the 100 freestyle, the Spartans took 1st and 3rd as Sebastian Illum came in 2nd with a time of 50.36 just behind the 1st place time of 50.01. In the 500 free it was again St. Stephen’s taking the top spot but the Lions would hang around for the 2,3,4 positions with senior co-captain Ethan Gao (5:30.27), freshman Cade Daigle (5:48.57), and sophomore Kevin Hong (5:55.69) finishing in those places.  In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions would narrowly miss the pool record by 0.1 of a second as Illum, Lutgen, Martin and E. Wang would average a 22.02 on the relay and would win the event by 5 seconds.  Also notable in that race was that St. Stephen’s would only out touch the Lions second relay team (Newaskar, Geheb, Hoverman, & R. Wang) by 0.7 as the team averaged 23.5 for a time of 1:34.02.  Notable swim to sophomore Richard Wang who posted a personal best 21.70.  In the 100 backstroke, Newaskar would take the top spot with a time of 54:89 while the Spartans 55:87 was good enough for second and senior co-captain Anderson Selinger came in 3rd with a 59.19.  In the 100 breaststroke it was all Lions going 1,2,3 with Lutgen taking the top spot with a 105.12, Geheb right on his heels with a 1:05.85 and Hoverman a fraction of a second behind him with a 1:05.96.

In the final event of the evening, the 400 Freestyle Relay, the Lions relay team of Kappelman, Martin, Illum, and E. Wang would drop a 3:16.47, casually defeating the Spartans (3:21.62) by 5 seconds.  In a dual meet where top six swimmers score in each event, the Lions would defeat St. Stephen’s 1,075 to 419. However, looking closer this was one of the toughest matchups for the Lions this season who would win seven of the 11 events on the night, but four of those seven events would be won by less than two seconds.  Up next, the Lions host cross-town rivals Greenhill on Thursday, Jan. 11th.


SOCCER
Hockaday hosted the St. Mark’s varsity soccer team and Greenhill on Hockaday Spirit Night at their beautiful new facility. These annual friendly matches between Hockaday/St. Mark’s and Greenhill typically precede the start of the holidays. The Lions started well, dominating possession and controlling the tempo of the match. It looked as if the Lions would be rewarded as they created several clear chances that went unfulfilled. The Hornets’ forays into the St. Mark’s defensive half were rare; however, in the twelfth minute, against the run of play, Greenhill proved clinical on the counterattack and took the lead. The Lions substituted nine of their starting 11 shortly afterwards and the new group proved resilient in maintaining the same scoreline until halftime. Regrouping at halftime, St. Mark’s scored two goals in a span of two minutes within the first ten minutes of the second half. Junior Aydin Sumer took full advantage of Reed Sussman’s creativity to convincingly equalize. Sumer then turned provider, setting up fellow classmate Alden Reagins who left no doubt with an emphatic strike. Both teams elevated their play and the frantic pace and heated competition made for a highly entertaining final half hour that saw the Lions see out the match as one-goal victors.

After several days of training, a depleted varsity team played an alumni team on a gorgeous afternoon where an excellent alumni turnout outnumbered the varsity, three to one. The alumni squad proved to have too much talent and depth for the varsity. Goals by former goalkeepers, Stephan Moreno ’22 and Jose Gonzalez ’12 (penalty kick) sandwiched a hat trick by Knobel Hunt ’21 and the alumni earned a decisive 5-0 victory. The Lions host HSAA on Friday evening as part of senior night before beginning the north zone counter season next week. 


WRESTLING
The varsity wrestling team started the Christmas break by hosting the 55th Annual Lonestar Christmas Invitational in Spencer Gymnasium attended by 24 schools from across DFW, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Alabama. Tuscaloosa County High School won the event and St. Mark’s placed seventh as a team. The three Lion co-captains, Quina Perkison, Beau Bacon and Wyatt Loehr, won gold in their weight classes.  Just before Christmas on Dec. 20-21, the Lion wrestlers competed at the Evangel Prep Classic in Shreveport, Louisiana. On the first day, the Lions won three our of four dual matches, t losing only to Coweta HS (Oklahoma). On day two, the Lions were placed in the Gold Bracket and lost three out of four matches against tough opponents. This scrappy tournament is great for the Lion wrestlers to compete against top teams from Oklahoma and Louisiana as well as build team chemistry.

After Christmas, nine Lion wrestlers (Quina Perkison, Beau Bacon, Henry Sun, Sebastian Kiehn, Jackson Barnes, William Taylor III, Oliver Loehr, Benjamin Hernandez and Wyatt Loehr) competed at the Prep Slam Tournament in Atlanta, GA on Dec. 29-30. Six wrestlers made it to day two of this national level tournament, the most during Coach Reyno Arredondo’s tenure. Co-captain Wyatt Loehr was the only Lion to place as he achieved fourth place, also the highest level achievement during Arredondo’s tenure as wrestling coach.  This Saturday, the Lion wrestlers will compete at Frisco Heritage HS Duals starting at 9 a.m.