Lion Sports Update (02/06)
It is the winter SPC tournament week. The basketball, soccer, swimming and wrestling teams will all be competing for SPC crowns this weekend in Houston. To see up to date brackets and results, go the SPCsports webpage. You can also follow the Lions via the SuperFanMen on both Instagram and X at @Superfanmen.
BASKETBALL
The St. Mark’s varsity basketball team finished SPC zone play with a pair of familiar foes. First, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, the squad traveled to Oakridge. Junior Lawrence Gardner hauled in 7 rebounds to go along with a couple of highlight scores, and classmates Luke Laczkowski (18 points, 8 rebounds) and Matthew Jordan (5 points, 5 rebounds) helped close out a convincing SM win to clinch back-to-back North Zone titles for the Lions. On Friday, St. Mark’s hosted ESD. The team lived out the “strictly business” theme, using stifling defense and tough rebounding to win by 33. Freshman Dawson Battie was in attack mode from the tip, notching 23 points and 7 rebounds. Henry Estes reached double-figures, as well and Shyam Maddukuri hit an acrobatic tip-in at the buzzer before halftime to send the Spencer Gym faithful into a frenzy. However, it was the seniors who made the absolute most of their final home game in the navy and gold. Bryan Graham sank three consecutive three-point attempts in the team’s first three offensive possessions of the game, and Lucas Blumenthal attacked the hoop all night on his way to a well-rounded 7 point, 6 assist, 4 rebound performance. Ethan Singleton, injured for the remainder of the season, selflessly provided emotional/vocal leadership from the bench. CJ Ness was an absolute beast defensively throughout the contest, as was Noah Cathey, whose final points led to a standing ovation from a crowd grateful beyond words for the amazing careers of these five special seniors. The team finished the SPC counter schedule undefeated and were given the #1 seed heading into SPC tournament play, which starts this Thursday, Feb. 8. The Lions will square off against Kinkaid at 7 p.m. at Houston Christian High School.
SWIMMING
In the final swim meet of the regular season, the Lions honored eight seniors — co-captain Ethan Gao, Matthew Gomez, Adam Kappelman, Baker Lipscomb, co-captain Adrian Lutgen, co-captain Anderson Selinger, co-captain Dawson Yao and Howard Zhang — for their contribution to the swimming program, eight Marksmen whose legacy will help define this program for ages to come. The Lions would again take on Cistercian and this meet would be much like the last one, with the Lions winning 415 to 38. In the first event of the evening, the 200 medley relay, it was 1,2,3 Lions, a result that would happen 9 out of the 11 events that night. Up next, the 200 freestyle, sophomore Miller Martin with a 1:49.82 would take 1st, Gao would take 2nd with a 1:55.80 and freshman Cade Daigle would come in 3rd with a 1:56.64. In the 200 individual medley, sophomore’s Ethan Wang and Oliver Geheb would go 1,2 while Selinger would narrowly be out touched by Geheb 2:01.55, 2:09.84, 209.90, respectively. In the 50 freestyle, Lutgen would take the top spot with a 22.59, Martin and Kappelman were close behind with 23.03 and 23.42. In the 100 butterfly, sophomore Ethan Wang was back on top with a 54.73 while junior George Hoverman was close behind with a 55.80 with sophomore Richard Wang coming in 3rd with a 57.31 . In the 100 freestyle, Martin (51.41) was 1st, Kappelman (51.82) was 2nd and freshman Ilan Gunawardena was 4th with a 52.91. In the 500 freestyle, junior Leo Scheiner continued his dominance with a smooth 5:31.07 while Daigle was 2nd with a 5:34.92. Yao was out touched for 3rd by Cistercian by less than 0.5 of a second, his time was a 5:37.38. In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions continued their season dominance going 1-5 in the event. In the 100 backstroke, some new personal bests (PB) were had as Selinger would take the top spot with a 58.02, and Gunawardena would swim a PB with his 1:00.69 and sophomore Michael Yang would have a personal best with 1:02.94 going 2,3 in the event. In the 100 breaststroke, Ethan Wang wins with a 1:01.96, Hoverman came in 2nd with a 1:04.04 narrowly out touching Lutgen and his 1:04.41 for 3rd. For the 4x100 yard freestyle relay, the senior relay team would go 1,3 while the sophomores would sneak into the 2nd place spot. Again, the Lions would go 1-5 in this relay. Up next the Lions head to the University of Houston for the SPC championships on Feb. 9 and 10. Swimming starts at 11 a.m. on Friday.
SOCCER
The varsity soccer team traveled to Arlington to play Oakridge for their fifth North Zone counter match of the season. Defensively, the Lions initially played to absorb some pressure before looking to counterattack when a turnover occurred. Creating chances with regularity, St. Mark’s was frustrated by the lack of opportunism in the final fourth, as well as questionable finishing ability. While the Lions proved to be the better team, they had nothing to show for it when the halftime whistle blew, and the match was a scoreless draw. Starting the second half with a high press and renewed enthusiasm, St. Mark’s quickly found its offensive flair and scoring touch in the form of junior Aydin Sumer whose combination with classmate Vikram Singh in the Owls’ penalty area resulted in the first goal. Sumer would score again within seven minutes, when he found himself behind the Oakridge backline thanks to a clever combination of passes from seniors Zach Bashour and Reed Sussman. The match then settled into a familiar rhythm, but St. Mark’s continued in search of more goals in the hopes of improving their zone goal difference. Late in the match, in a seven-minute span, St. Mark’s notched a trio of goals. Sussman set up freshman David Dickson who muscled past his marker to score, Singh then scored and promptly set up Sumer moments later to see out the match with a five-goal victory. Sumer completed a rare feat of scoring hat tricks in consecutive counter matches. St. Mark’s then hosted ESD for the sixth and final counter match of the season. A win would not only see them champions of the north zone, it would also give merit to a first place seeding at the SPC tournament. The match was a hard-fought, entertaining affair with plenty of action with both teams in an attack minded mode while simultaneously playing physical, tenacious defense. It took 54 minutes to break the deadlock, coming in the form of a penalty kick which senior captain John Ma cooly converted. Four minutes later, Sumer scored a goal of immeasurable quality. He received the ball, with back to goal, some 30 meters from the Eagles’ goal on the right flank. He then turned effortlessly towards the center of the field, gliding into space. As would-be defenders closed on him, Sumer struck a left-footed hammer on a frozen rope that found the upper lefthand corner of the ESD goal, striking the side netting. The Eagle’s goalkeeper barely moved off his line as he was beaten the moment the ball was struck. Sumer would have recorded a brace if not for an outstanding save from the Eagles’ goalkeeper on a full volley from close range. The Lions are now set to play St. Andrew’s Episcopal School from Austin at AWTY International School in Houston on Thursday evening in an SPC quarterfinal match.
WRESTLING
The varsity wrestlers competed at the Prep State Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Cornerstone Christian School in San Antonio. As a team, the Lions placed 6th and had six place winners. Leading the team was o-captain Beau Bacon, the solo state champion this year. The Lions had two silver medalists in co-captain Quina Perkison and freshman Zach Golle. Rounding out Lion accolades were three bronze medalists: sophomore Jackson Barnes, and brothers Oliver Loehr and co-captain Wyatt Loehr. All six Marksmen qualified for the Prep National Tournament at Lehigh University on Feb. 23-24. This Saturday, the Lion wrestlers head down to Houston for the SPC tournament at St. John’s School.
ALUMNI ATHLETE NEWS
Harrison Ingram ’21 and the #3 ranked University of North Carolina Tar Heels hosted the #7 Duke Blue Devils on Saturday in one of the most intense rivalries in all of sports. This was Harrison’s first game in the epic rivalry that also has his family divided as his sister, Lauren (Hockaday class of ’23), plays volleyball at Duke. Harrison not only claimed bragging rights as UNC won 93-84, but on the biggest stage of his career thus far, Harrison was also named “Player of the Game” as he scored 21 points (8-12 shooting and 5-9 from 3-point), 13 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist and 1 block. If you missed watching him in that game, you can catch him again tonight at 6 p.m. (Tuesday, Feb. 6) on ESPN as UNC hosts Clemson.
Back
BASKETBALL
The St. Mark’s varsity basketball team finished SPC zone play with a pair of familiar foes. First, on Tuesday, Jan. 30, the squad traveled to Oakridge. Junior Lawrence Gardner hauled in 7 rebounds to go along with a couple of highlight scores, and classmates Luke Laczkowski (18 points, 8 rebounds) and Matthew Jordan (5 points, 5 rebounds) helped close out a convincing SM win to clinch back-to-back North Zone titles for the Lions. On Friday, St. Mark’s hosted ESD. The team lived out the “strictly business” theme, using stifling defense and tough rebounding to win by 33. Freshman Dawson Battie was in attack mode from the tip, notching 23 points and 7 rebounds. Henry Estes reached double-figures, as well and Shyam Maddukuri hit an acrobatic tip-in at the buzzer before halftime to send the Spencer Gym faithful into a frenzy. However, it was the seniors who made the absolute most of their final home game in the navy and gold. Bryan Graham sank three consecutive three-point attempts in the team’s first three offensive possessions of the game, and Lucas Blumenthal attacked the hoop all night on his way to a well-rounded 7 point, 6 assist, 4 rebound performance. Ethan Singleton, injured for the remainder of the season, selflessly provided emotional/vocal leadership from the bench. CJ Ness was an absolute beast defensively throughout the contest, as was Noah Cathey, whose final points led to a standing ovation from a crowd grateful beyond words for the amazing careers of these five special seniors. The team finished the SPC counter schedule undefeated and were given the #1 seed heading into SPC tournament play, which starts this Thursday, Feb. 8. The Lions will square off against Kinkaid at 7 p.m. at Houston Christian High School.
SWIMMING
In the final swim meet of the regular season, the Lions honored eight seniors — co-captain Ethan Gao, Matthew Gomez, Adam Kappelman, Baker Lipscomb, co-captain Adrian Lutgen, co-captain Anderson Selinger, co-captain Dawson Yao and Howard Zhang — for their contribution to the swimming program, eight Marksmen whose legacy will help define this program for ages to come. The Lions would again take on Cistercian and this meet would be much like the last one, with the Lions winning 415 to 38. In the first event of the evening, the 200 medley relay, it was 1,2,3 Lions, a result that would happen 9 out of the 11 events that night. Up next, the 200 freestyle, sophomore Miller Martin with a 1:49.82 would take 1st, Gao would take 2nd with a 1:55.80 and freshman Cade Daigle would come in 3rd with a 1:56.64. In the 200 individual medley, sophomore’s Ethan Wang and Oliver Geheb would go 1,2 while Selinger would narrowly be out touched by Geheb 2:01.55, 2:09.84, 209.90, respectively. In the 50 freestyle, Lutgen would take the top spot with a 22.59, Martin and Kappelman were close behind with 23.03 and 23.42. In the 100 butterfly, sophomore Ethan Wang was back on top with a 54.73 while junior George Hoverman was close behind with a 55.80 with sophomore Richard Wang coming in 3rd with a 57.31 . In the 100 freestyle, Martin (51.41) was 1st, Kappelman (51.82) was 2nd and freshman Ilan Gunawardena was 4th with a 52.91. In the 500 freestyle, junior Leo Scheiner continued his dominance with a smooth 5:31.07 while Daigle was 2nd with a 5:34.92. Yao was out touched for 3rd by Cistercian by less than 0.5 of a second, his time was a 5:37.38. In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions continued their season dominance going 1-5 in the event. In the 100 backstroke, some new personal bests (PB) were had as Selinger would take the top spot with a 58.02, and Gunawardena would swim a PB with his 1:00.69 and sophomore Michael Yang would have a personal best with 1:02.94 going 2,3 in the event. In the 100 breaststroke, Ethan Wang wins with a 1:01.96, Hoverman came in 2nd with a 1:04.04 narrowly out touching Lutgen and his 1:04.41 for 3rd. For the 4x100 yard freestyle relay, the senior relay team would go 1,3 while the sophomores would sneak into the 2nd place spot. Again, the Lions would go 1-5 in this relay. Up next the Lions head to the University of Houston for the SPC championships on Feb. 9 and 10. Swimming starts at 11 a.m. on Friday.
SOCCER
The varsity soccer team traveled to Arlington to play Oakridge for their fifth North Zone counter match of the season. Defensively, the Lions initially played to absorb some pressure before looking to counterattack when a turnover occurred. Creating chances with regularity, St. Mark’s was frustrated by the lack of opportunism in the final fourth, as well as questionable finishing ability. While the Lions proved to be the better team, they had nothing to show for it when the halftime whistle blew, and the match was a scoreless draw. Starting the second half with a high press and renewed enthusiasm, St. Mark’s quickly found its offensive flair and scoring touch in the form of junior Aydin Sumer whose combination with classmate Vikram Singh in the Owls’ penalty area resulted in the first goal. Sumer would score again within seven minutes, when he found himself behind the Oakridge backline thanks to a clever combination of passes from seniors Zach Bashour and Reed Sussman. The match then settled into a familiar rhythm, but St. Mark’s continued in search of more goals in the hopes of improving their zone goal difference. Late in the match, in a seven-minute span, St. Mark’s notched a trio of goals. Sussman set up freshman David Dickson who muscled past his marker to score, Singh then scored and promptly set up Sumer moments later to see out the match with a five-goal victory. Sumer completed a rare feat of scoring hat tricks in consecutive counter matches. St. Mark’s then hosted ESD for the sixth and final counter match of the season. A win would not only see them champions of the north zone, it would also give merit to a first place seeding at the SPC tournament. The match was a hard-fought, entertaining affair with plenty of action with both teams in an attack minded mode while simultaneously playing physical, tenacious defense. It took 54 minutes to break the deadlock, coming in the form of a penalty kick which senior captain John Ma cooly converted. Four minutes later, Sumer scored a goal of immeasurable quality. He received the ball, with back to goal, some 30 meters from the Eagles’ goal on the right flank. He then turned effortlessly towards the center of the field, gliding into space. As would-be defenders closed on him, Sumer struck a left-footed hammer on a frozen rope that found the upper lefthand corner of the ESD goal, striking the side netting. The Eagle’s goalkeeper barely moved off his line as he was beaten the moment the ball was struck. Sumer would have recorded a brace if not for an outstanding save from the Eagles’ goalkeeper on a full volley from close range. The Lions are now set to play St. Andrew’s Episcopal School from Austin at AWTY International School in Houston on Thursday evening in an SPC quarterfinal match.
WRESTLING
The varsity wrestlers competed at the Prep State Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 3 at Cornerstone Christian School in San Antonio. As a team, the Lions placed 6th and had six place winners. Leading the team was o-captain Beau Bacon, the solo state champion this year. The Lions had two silver medalists in co-captain Quina Perkison and freshman Zach Golle. Rounding out Lion accolades were three bronze medalists: sophomore Jackson Barnes, and brothers Oliver Loehr and co-captain Wyatt Loehr. All six Marksmen qualified for the Prep National Tournament at Lehigh University on Feb. 23-24. This Saturday, the Lion wrestlers head down to Houston for the SPC tournament at St. John’s School.
ALUMNI ATHLETE NEWS
Harrison Ingram ’21 and the #3 ranked University of North Carolina Tar Heels hosted the #7 Duke Blue Devils on Saturday in one of the most intense rivalries in all of sports. This was Harrison’s first game in the epic rivalry that also has his family divided as his sister, Lauren (Hockaday class of ’23), plays volleyball at Duke. Harrison not only claimed bragging rights as UNC won 93-84, but on the biggest stage of his career thus far, Harrison was also named “Player of the Game” as he scored 21 points (8-12 shooting and 5-9 from 3-point), 13 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist and 1 block. If you missed watching him in that game, you can catch him again tonight at 6 p.m. (Tuesday, Feb. 6) on ESPN as UNC hosts Clemson.
St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
About Us
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
