Lion Sports Update (01/23)

WRESTLING

 

On Friday, Jan. 12 the St. Mark’s Lions wrestled at Bishop Lynch High School and competed in duals against BL and St. John’s of Houston. These two programs have been leading the prep state rankings for the last decade. The Lions started the evening wrestling cross-town rival Bishop Lynch. The Lions were up to the task and won seven out of eleven matches; however, the three forfeits (18 points) were too much from which to recover, losing a close one 36-39. 

 

Next, St. Mark’s wrestled Houston powerhouse St. John’s and were able to win four out of the fourteen matches (final score: SJS 49 – SM 21). Of note, the Lions were missing three varsity starters (O. Loehr – lacrosse, A. Dobbs – regional choir competition, and H. Roden – Injury). All three will return for our next event.  

 

The next day, as a show of brotherhood with the Middle School wrestling team, the varsity and JV wrestlers helped run the 55^th Annual Lonestar Middle School Invitational at St. Mark’s School of Texas.   On Saturday, Jan. 20 at Bishop Lynch High School, the Lions competed in the Prep State Duals. Out of 16 teams, St. Mark’s finished in fourth place. This was the first Prep State Duals during Coach Reyno’s seven-year tenure that the Lions have landed on the podium in this tough tournament. Beating Bishop Lynch, after having lost to them the week prior, reflects positively on the continued development of Lion wrestlers. 

 

Trinity Christian Academy (5) vs St. Mark’s School (64)

St. Thomas Catholic (28) vs St. Mark’s School (47)

Bishop Lynch (33) vs St. Mark’s (41)

St. John’s Houston (55) vs St. Mark’s (18) 

Kinkaid (38) vs St. Mark’s (32)

 

This Thursday evening, Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m.in Spencer Gymnasium the Lion wrestlers will celebrate the four seniors (Quina Perkison, Sebastian Kiehn, Alex Dobbs, and Hayden Meyers) as the team competes against Liberty Christian School. From here they prepare for the Prep State Tournament on Feb. 3 at Cornerstone Christian School in San Antonio. 

 

BASKETBALL

 

The varsity basketball team enjoyed a 5-0 stretch to remain undefeated in 2024.  On Tuesday, the Lions hosted Fort Worth Country Day.  Underclassmen Luke Laczkowski (21 points), Dawson Battie (19 points), and Pranav Danda (15 points) turned in huge first-half scoring performances, and seniors Bryan Graham (9 points), Lucas Blumenthal (9 points), and Noah Cathey (5) put the exclamation point on a convincing victory to start SPC play.  

 

Two days later, the Lions played Parish for a non-conference matchup.  The game seesawed back and forth before stout defense from senior CJ Ness and junior Henry Estes helped the Lions turn a 2-point halftime lead into a double-digit margin early in the fourth quarter.  Down the stretch, things got tight once again, but gritty defense remained the theme, as the Lions clawed their way to a hard-fought 50-48 road win.  

 

On Friday, the Marksmen traveled to Fort Worth for another SPC counter, this time against Trinity Valley.  Bryan Graham notched a double-figure scoring night, and fellow senior Ethan Singleton was making things happen all night long at both ends of the court.  Junior Shyam Maddukuri had the highest-scoring night of his young varsity career, as the Lions rolled 74-40.  Five days later, SM traveled to Cistercian.  Senior Lucas Blumenthal attacked the rim early and often and knocked down two 3’s as the boys in navy and gold built a 9-point halftime lead.  Sophomore Pranav Danda did not miss from the perimeter (3-for-3 from beyond the arc), and junior Jack Baker’s activity as a rebounder/initiator helped stretch the lead for another 20+-point Lions victory.  

 

Friday, Jan. 19 was senior night.  Lucas Blumenthal, Noah Cathey, Bryan Graham, CJ Ness and Ethan Singleton were honored individually at halftime and used that excitement to collectively turn a slim lead into a third-quarter runaway.  The group’s stingy, half-court lockdown D turned into points at the other end and turned the Spencer Gym atmosphere electric!  Laczkowski (29 points) and Battie (19 points) came off the bench to amp up the volume with several thunderous dunks as St. Mark’s won their final non-conference game of the season. This Friday and next, the squad will host local rivals Greenhill and ESD to determine the winner of the SPC North Zone. 

 

SWIMMING

 On Jan. 9, the varsity swim team took on crosstown rival Greenhill and the Lions took care of business winning 256 to 161.  The Lions would win 10 of the 11 events and set a new pool record and school record in the 200 freestyle relay, more on that below.  Right out of the gate, the Lions would set the tone for the meet winning the 200 medley relay by 5 seconds.  Freshman Armaan Newaskar, sophomore Oliver Geheb and senior co-captains Adrian Lutgen and Anderson Selinger put up a very strong time for the Lions at 1:42.84.  

 

In the next event, sophomore Miller Martin would continue his stellar season going 1:51.8 while senior co-captain Ethan Gao would finish 3^rd with a time of 1:56.37.  In the 200 IM, Greenhill would get their only win of the night, out touching Geheb who would drop 12 seconds from his previous personal best to a 2:06.8 while fellow sophomore Richard Wang would also make a big drop of 10 seconds to a 2:07.18 to come in 3^rd place.  In the 50 freestyle the Lions would go 1,2,3, with Martin taking the top spot at 22.42, junior Sebastian Illum 22.86, and Lutgen 22.87 rounded off the top 3.  Fun fact, the Lions would go 1^st – 10^th before the first Greenhill athlete would finish. 

 

In the 100 butterfly, it was again 1,2,3 for the Lions with Newaskar 55.26, Illum 55.87 and Gao 57.76 getting the job done over 4^th place Greenhill with their top time of 1:00.39.  In the 100 freestyle, the Lions would go 2,3,4 with an outsider from Poetry Community Christian taking the top spot, however juniors Benjamin Chen (54.18) and Leo Scheiner (54.90) and freshman Matthew Liu (55.25) would get the job done.  The 500 freestyle saw a great time posted by sophomore Ethan Wang with a 4:46.57, Kappelman followed next with at 5:31.33, and freshman Cade Daigle would round out the top 3 with a 5:35.01 for the Lions.  

 

In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions would continue with 1,2,3 and this is where we find our pool record (1:28.00 in 2016) and school record (1:27.43 in 2015) would fall after almost a decade.  Lutgen started it off with a 22.08, Martin was second with a 21.36, Ethan Wang was 3^rd with a 21.61 and Illum brought it home with a 22.27 in what was one of the most electric races of the season.  

 

In the 100 backstroke, Newaskar was back on top with a very fast time of 53.57 which is less than a second off the school record, and Selinger would come in 3^rd with a 59.09, his top time of the season so far.  In the 100 breaststroke, E. Wang came out on top with a 1:00.28 and Lutgen would cap of his night with another top 3 finish ending up 3^rd with a 1:02.87, a top 5 time for him in his career.  In the final event of the night the Lions would go 1,2 in the 4x100 yard freestyle Relay.  Martin, Illum, Kappelman, and Dawson Yao would win the event with a 3:27.55, defeating the second place St. Marks team of Yang, Scheiner, Gao and Selinger by 17 seconds (3:44.90) and the 3^rd place Greenhill team by 42 seconds (4:09.76).  

 

Then last week, Southlake Carroll hosted the Lions on their Senior Night.  Southlake, a 6A Perennial Power, was able to squeak out a 16 point victory down the stretch, and the Lions would have some great swims on the evening.  In the 200 medley relay, the Lions would start off with a bang, freshman Armaan Newaskar, sophomore Ethan Wang, senior co-captain Adrian Lutgen, and sophomore Miller Martin would post a season best 1:36.43, breaking the previous season best by four seconds (note that the previous season best was a loss to St. Stevens who went a 1:39.00 and won the event at last year’s SPC championship with a similar time). 

 

In the 200 freestyle, junior Sebastian Illum would take home the top spot with a 1:47.37, his top time of the season so far.  Notable races from senior co-captain Ethan Gao, who was back in top form, missed his personal best by a few seconds while junior Benjamin Chen was less than a second off his top time.  Freshman Cade Daigle would have a great swim with a new personal best (PB) by four seconds going 1:59.50, and senior co-captain Dawson Yao would also improve his PB by almost a second.  However, it was sophomore Matthew Liu who had the biggest drop, six seconds, ending up with a time of 2:03.76.  

 

In the 200 IM, sophomore Richard Wang would find himself on the winning side of a great race, this 200 IM is a PB for him going 2:03.91, a 3.5 second drop from his previous time.  Oliver Geheb would have a horrible start however he fought his way back to a 2:09.46 for 3^rd place.  Kevin Ho would also have a PB in the event dropping almost a second, and Anderson Selinger had his season best swim in the event as well.  In the 50 freestyle, it was 1,2,3 St. Mark’s, a first in the Calder era of coaching.  Martin, Lutgen and Adam Kappelman were the ones who got it done, going 21.97, 22.11, 22.31, respectively.  The race also featured personal bests from junior Leo Scheiner and sophomore Andrew Liu.  

 

In the 100 butterfly, E. Wang would take the top spot with a time of 51.94, his PB on the season as Newaskar was close to his PB and Gao was right on his top time as well.  Sophomore R. Wang was back in action with his PB a drop of almost 3 seconds.  In the 100 freestyle, the Lions would go 1,2,  (Kappelman at 49.35 and Illum was close behind with a 49.71).  Scheiner, Daigle, M. Liu, freshman Joshua Goforth, freshman Paul Sumethasorn, sophomore Kevin Hong, junior Reagan Browerand freshman Emiliano Mayo would all have personal bests in the event.  In the 500 freestyle, Geheb improved on his top time dropping three seconds and earning 2^nd place in the event. 

 

In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions who broke the school record and pool record last week were back in great form. Lutgen, Martin, E. Wang and Illum would come in second with a 1:28.88, only 1.5 seconds off their record.  In the 100 Backstroke, Newaskar would finally meet his match. In what was one of the top races of the night, he would be out touched by the swimmer from Southlake posting a 54.17 which is about a .5 second off his top time.  Freshman Wyatt Melvin would have a personal best, dropping almost two seconds in his 100 backstroke.  In the 100 breaststroke, E. Wang was back in the top spot with a 58.60 which is the fastest 100 breast since the Covid pandemic and is only 0.4 off the school record.  In the final event of the night, the 4x100 freestylerRelay, the Lions would have great swims from Illum (49.84), Kappelman (49.40), Newaskar (55.96), and Gao (51.57).  Up next, the Lions take on Parish, John Paul II, Alcuin and Prestonwood Academy on Wednesday, Jan. 24. 

 

SOCCER

 

The varsity soccer team hosted an undefeated Ft. Worth Country Day team in the first north zone counter of the season on Jan. 9. An action packed first half resulted in a scoreless draw at halftime. The Lions began the second half in excellent form with senior Max Levy scoring on a corner kick from junior Aydin Sumer’s service. Midway through the second half, the Falcons were awarded a penalty kick which they were unable to convert. St. Mark’s immediately replied with senior Zach Bashour scoring the timeliest of goals from junior Vikram Singh’s service. Riding a wave of momentum, St. Mark’s struck again when Bashour found the back of the net for a brace eight minutes from full time. The shutout victory was a splendid start to the counter season. 

 

The Lions then traveled to Trinity Valley to play the Trojans on Jan. 12. Exhibiting a great deal of patience, the Lions dominated possession in their quest to penetrate the Trojan defense.  Senior captain John Ma converted a penalty kick after senior captain Alex Soliz was fouled in the tenth minute. Twenty minutes later, junior Aydin Sumer added a goal on free kick that was once again earned by Soliz. Five minutes from the halftime whistle, sophomore Kazim Hussain opportunistically redirected Sumer’s cross to extend the lead. In the waning minutes of the half, senior captain Reed Sussman added a lovely goal with assist from junior Oliver Peck. The Lions maintained possession for much of the second half but conceded very late, spoiling a shutout bid. 

 

The Lions then traveled to Cistercian in a showdown between undefeated zone leaders. Eighty minutes later, the Hawks and Lions both left with a point in a scoreless draw. The Hawks created the best chance requiring an exceptional save from senior goalkeeper Tyler Tang, while the Lions created the most chances, but could not penetrate the stout Hawks defense. Late in the match, St. Mark’s looked poised to take the lead as they placed Cistercian under heavy pressure, but the winner never materialized. Nevertheless, a draw away from home was not a bad result for the Lions, and the match was very encouraging as St. Mark’s exhibited moxie in compiling a performance that was filled with industry and application. Juniors Alex Abel,  Dylan Taylor and Eduardo Mousinho, along with Ma and Tang had standout defensive performances.  The Lions next face Greenhill this Friday in a battle of the north zone “big” schools (4A).