Lions Win SPC

SWIMMING
The swim team traveled to the University of Houston this past weekend for the SPC championships.  Seventeen athletes would make the trip, and all would have a new personal best (PB) in at least one of their swims.  There are 11 events in swimming, three are relays and eight are individuals.  Each team is allowed four swimmers per event which means that there are 32 total swims that each team can place in individual finals.  St Mark’s had 30 athletes getting finals swims in individual events, with the 100 backstroke the lone event where all four athletes didn’t qualify for finals which shows the depth of this St. Mark’s team.  The Lion relay teams would finish 3rd place in the 200 medley relay, a 1st place and new SPC and school record in the 200 freestyle relay, and a 3rd place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.  In the 200 medley relay freshman Armaan Newaskar, sophomore Ethan Wang, junior George Hoverman and senior co-captain Adrian Lutgen would bring home a 3rd place finish and start the meet off with 12 points for the Lions.  In the 200 freestyle, senior Adam Kappelman, sophomore Miller Martin, junior Sebastian Illum and senior co-captain Ethan Gao would finish 4, 5, 6, 7 adding 14 points to the total score.  With St. Stephen’s winning the first relay (18 points) and going 2, 3, 8 in the 200 Free (14 points), the Spartans would lead the Lions 32 to 26 after two events.  In the 200 IM, E. Wang would come in 3rd, senior co-captain Anderson Selinger would have his personal best going 2:02.67 coming in 6th, and sophomore Oliver Geheb and freshman Richard Wang would finish 7th and 8th.  St. Stephens would have one swimmer in the final finishing 4th adding five points to bring their total to 37, but the Lions would add 12 to take their first lead of 38 to 37.   In the 50 freestyle, Martin would come in 3rdnarrowly out touching Lutgen in 4th while Kappelman would get 6th and junior Leo Scheiner would finish 8th…all would post best times in the race.   The Spartans would go 2nd and 5th getting 11 points while the Lions with their 3, 4, 6, 8 finish would add 15 points pushing the Lion lead to 53 to 48.  St. Stephen’s would have one trick up their sleeve, they had a diver who would take 1st place giving them nine points and moving them back into first (53-57).  In the next swimming event, the Lions would have E. Wang finish 3rd while Hoverman would come in 5th and Newaskar and Gao would come in 7th and 8th.  St. Stephens would have one swimmer in the finals finishing 4th adding 5 points, while the Lions with their 3, 5, 7, 8 would again add 13 points, making the score 66 to 62 in favor of the Lions.  The 100 freestyle and the 500 freestyle would have the Spartans adding the most points, the would go 1, 2 in both events adding 32 total points to their total, however the Lions would go 4, 5, 6, 7 on finishes from Martin, Illum, Kappelman, and junior Ben Chen. In the 100 freestyle, St. Stephen’s added 14 points, while in the 500 freestyle Geheb, Scheiner, freshman Cade Daigle, and junior Reagan Brower would again go 4, 5, 6, 7 all with new personal bests in the event. In those two events, the Lions would add 28 points while the Spartans added 32 which tied the top two teams at 94 points. The Lions depth would really come into play in the next several races.  In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions would set an SPC record, a school record, and add 18 points to their score while the Spartans would come in 3rd scoring them 12 points. Lutgen, Hoverman,  E. Wang, and Martin would all swim 21 seconds in their splits, dropping their previous school record by over 1 second.  Now the score was Lions 112 to Spartans 106.  In the 100 backstroke, Newaskar would finish 3rd with a personal best and Illum would finish 4th with a personal best.  This being the only event where the Lions didn’t score four swimmers could have been dangerous, however St. Stephens would only have one swimmer qualify in the event.  St. Mark’s would add 11 pts (123) to the Spartans nine points (115) going into the final two events of the day.  In the 100 breaststroke, E. Wang would come in 2nd, out touching St. Stephen’s by over one second while Lutgen would be narrowly out touched coming in 4th with Hoverman and sophomore Kevin Ho coming in 5th and 6th respectively.  The Spartans with a 3rd, 7th, 8th finish would add nine points while the Lions with 2, 4, 5, 6 finishes added 19 points. Now it was 142 Lions - 124 Spartans with one event to swim.  In the final event, the 4x100 freestyle relay, the relay team of Martin, Kappelman, Illum, and Gao would sail their way into a 3rd place finish clinching the championship for the Lions. Final scores for the top three teams were: 1st Place – St. Mark’s with 154 Points, 2nd Place – St. Stephen’s with 139 points, and in 3rd Place – St. John’s with 98 points.   The swim team has now won back to back SPC titles.

 
WRESTLERS
On Saturday, Feb. 10, the Lion wrestlers headed down to Houston for the SPC tournament at St. John’s School. There were six All-SPC Lion wrestlers in the championship round, and three won their championship matches. St. Mark’s had SPC champions: Will Tayor III ’27 (150 lbs), and co-captains Quina Perkison ‘24 (106 lbs) and Wyatt Loehr ’25 (175 lbs). William Taylor’s come-from-behind victory in the last five seconds of his championship bout was one of the most exciting moments of the entire tournament.  The three silver medalists were Zach Golle ’28 (113 lbs), Jackson Barnes ’27 (144 lbs), and co-captain Beau Bacon ’27 (126 lbs). The Lion’s team runner-up placement was the best showing at the SPC championship since 2016. For the final event of the season, St. Mark’s wrestling competes in the Prep National Wrestling Tournament at Lehigh University on Feb. 23-24 in Bethlehem, PA. The Lions have six Prep national qualifiers – co-captains Beau Bacon ‘27, Quina Perkison ‘24, and Wyatt Loehr ‘25, as well as Zach Golle ‘28, Oliver Loehr ‘28, and Jackson Barnes ’27 – which is the most the team has had during Coach Reyno Arredondo’s leadership.
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BASKETBALL
The St. Mark’s varsity basketball team loaded the bus on February 8th and headed for Houston Christian for a first-round matchup against Kinkaid in the SPC Championships. The Lions built an early lead thanks to seven assists from senior Lucas Blumenthal and then relied on well-rounded production from senior Noah Cathey and juniors Lawrence Gardner, Matthew Jordan, and Shyam Maddukuri to close out the convincing 55-23 victory. On Friday, the boys in navy and gold squared off against the host team and defending SPC champions, Houston Christian. Senior CJ Ness was everywhere as an active defender/rebounder, and fellow classmate Bryan Graham had the hot hand from the outside to bolster the team’s scoring. The Lions benefited from a near-flawless first quarter to forge a 14-point halftime lead. However, that same margin evaporated for the squad in the semifinals a year prior, so the team came out of the locker room focused and fearless, extending the lead to more than 20 against the state’s top-ranked private school for much of the year. Every time Houston Christian tried to make a run, the high-scoring duo of freshman Dawson Battie and junior Luke Laczkowski seemed to have the answer. Final score: St. Mark’s 70, Houston Christian 53. In the SPC championship game on Saturday, familiar faces sparked the attack against Episcopal High School from Belaire. Dawson Battie drained an early 3 and muscled his way to an acrobatic “and-1” bucket and free throw. Sophomore Pranav Danda knocked down three triples, and Luke Laczkowski proved repeatedly why he led the team in scoring and rebounding as a 2022-23 TABC All-State nominee. However, several unforced errors doomed the boys from 10600, as they ultimately fell 7 points shy of an SPC title. The loss was the Lions first in the calendar year, having rattled off 13 straight prior to the championship game to finish the season 25-9 and ranked #3 among all private schools in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches state rankings.
 
SOCCER
 The week of the SPC championships started well for the varsity soccer team with a victory over Covenant, 6-0. The match served as a tune-up for the SPC tournament, giving several players valuable minutes to ensure that the entire team was well-prepared for a schedule that would entail three grueling matches in less than 48 hours. Senior captain Reed Sussman opened the scoring in the 16th minute with assists from classmates Zachary Bashour and captain Alex Soliz. The scoreline remained the same until early in the second half when junior Ethan Zhang firmly struck a Covenant half-clearance into the net. Junior David Gershenson assisted freshman David Dickson in the 47th minute and the Lions were well on their way to victory. In the 70th minute, junior Alex Abel scored on a well struck shot from just outside the penalty area that was assisted by freshman Matthew Wier. Junior Eduardo Mousinho scored in the 76th minute on an assist from Zhang and just before the full time whistle, senior Max Levy added a goal that looked eerily similar to that of Abel’s.

On Thursday, Feb. 8, the team traveled to Houston for the SPC championships.  Hosted by Awty International School in Houston, the Lions started well as the number one seed in the tournament by pressuring St. Andrew’s Episcopal School from Austin in a quarterfinal match. St. Mark’s was rewarded for its efforts in the 16th minute when Sussman took Bashour’s pass, veered into open space and struck a ball from 20 yards with true aim that the opposing keeper could only parry into the side netting. In the waning minutes of the first half, junior Aydin Sumer doubled the lead with an assist from Dickson. Unfortunately, the Lions’ shortcomings in match management were exposed in the second half. A St. Andrew’s goal early in the second half which came directly from a Lion miscue changed the momentum and complexion of the match. The Lions, who had not yielded three goals in a match for the entirety of the season, did so in 20 minutes.  A valiant effort in the last ten minutes of the match saw St. Mark’s create numerous opportunities that lacked the finishing touch. It would be the only loss of the SPC season for St. Mark’s, albeit a costly one. A deeply saddened den of Lions demonstrated resilience and character in regrouping to defeat a very talented St. John’s squad (1-0) on the timeliest of goals by Mousinho off a corner kick within minutes of the final whistle. On Saturday afternoon, St. Mark’s would defeat John Cooper (4-2) in the 5th place game. Perhaps, appropriately so, the final match was a senior laden goal fest. Temi Balogun opened the scoring in the 10th minute with assistance from senior Ben Adams and junior Alden Reagins. Seven minutes into the second half, just after John Cooper had equalized, senior Daniel Weinstein’s relentless pressure was rewarded when a defensive miscue allowed him to deftly deflect the ball into the opponent’s goal. Soliz added a third goal with a penetrating run to the edge of the John Cooper penalty area. The collision that ensued allowed Soliz to strike a majestic, left-footed, half-volley that emphatically struck the net in the upper left-hand corner of the goal, giving the keeper no chance at a save. Finally, with seven minutes remaining, Weinstein struck again when what appeared to be a cross from the far reaches of the right end line inexplicably carried beyond the keeper to the far post where the ball nestled into the side netting, much to the surprise and dismay of all who saw it. The final minutes of the match were played with all ten seniors on the field--a fitting end to a successful season. St. Mark’s finished the season with 15 wins, 1 draw, and 4 losses (7-1-1 in SPC). The impact of the lone SPC loss was devasting as it meant that St. Mark’s finished 5th despite a near perfect conference season.