Lion Sports Update (03/06)

CREW
The Austin Rowing Club hosted the Heart of Texas Regatta on Lady Bird Lake in Austin on Feb. 23 and 24. The St. Mark’s crew team took 28 Marksmen rowers to compete in 8 events.  With 15 entries the Lions qualified for 8 finals.  The weather in Austin was ideal for a change.  Sunny and low winds beat the weather of two years ago when it was 36º and drizzling.  In the Men’s Varsity 2x, Ian McGowan and Eli Kraus came in 1st in their heat to advance to the finals where they finished 5th.  In the Under 17 4x, Walker Stevens, Andrew Hofmann, J. B. McKinney, and Diego Armendariz came in 2nd in their heat to advance to the finals.  This is despite J. B. McKinney being overwhelmed by illness.  Mateen Mostafavipour stepped in for J.B. in the finals and that lineup came in 3rd place for the bronze medal.  The Men’s 2nd Varsity 4x had 3 Lion lineups, two of which advanced to the finals.  Drew Wallace, Sebastian Gonzales, Patrick Zeballos, and Mason Bosco came in 6th in the finals, while Austin Dunbar, Matthew Jordan, Rahil Panchbhaya, and Chris Han finished 4th in the final.  The Men’s Varsity 4x of Ian McGowan, Eli Kraus, Kevon Mostafavipour and Linyang Lee finished 1st in their qualifying heat and 5th in the finals.  In the Men’s 1x, Ian McGowan advanced to the finals to finish 6th.  In the Men’s 2nd Varsity 2x, Eric Yi and Adam Dalrymple finished 6th in their final.  The Men’s Novice 2x had Walker Stevens and Andrew Hofmann come in 1st in their heat and 2nd in the finals for a silver medal.  The Heart of Texas is always sn interesting regatta for Lion’s rowing.  It is the first opportunity of the season to come head-to-head against scholastic and club teams, many of which have been training year-round.  The races show us the strengths and weaknesses of our competitors and the SM team.  It is a reality check for the season and lays bare the work needed to reach the team’s potential by the time the Central Youth Championships come in May. 

BASEBALL 
The varsity baseball team entered a busy week of play with a night game on Tuesday at perennial powerhouse Bishop Lynch. Junior Jackson Williams hurled four solid innings (0 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO)  turning the game over to junior reliever Lucas Petrikas (1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO), who also kept the Friars bats at bay with two strong innings of work. Although Bishop Lynch scored four in the bottom of the 7th to give the Lions a scare, Junior reliever Deven Pietrzak recorded a much-needed strikeout for the final out. Junior Jack Frary led the offense (2 H, 1 R, 2 RBI) as the patient Lions hitters tallied 12 walks, scoring early and often to secure the 8-6 victory. On Thursday, St. Mark's faced Hillcrest, the host team in the annual Bryan Martin tournament. Junior starting pitcher Deven Pietrzak was brilliant on the mound, scattering five Panther hits in an 81-pitch complete game outing. Untimely St. Mark's errors gifted Hillcrest two runs while the Lions bats remained largely quiet with only four batters (senior Alex Barrett, Jackson Williams, senior Mitch Galardi and sophomore Jake DeBoever) collecting hits. The following day, St. Mark’s squared off against TACA for the second time of the season. Junior starting pitcher Lucas Petrikas gave up two runs in the first but kept his composure and worked out of a jam to stop further damage that inning. Once again, the patient Lions hitters forced the Storm pitchers into huge pitch counts while trading runs with TACA for the first three innings. Defensive miscues by the Lions defense allowed the Storm to stay in the game, but with the score tied at 6 in the bottom of the third, St. Mark’s rallied to take the lead, 10-6. With time running out, Petrikas nailed down the fourth inning, getting three outs in a row to give the Lions the win. Senior Grayson Redmond (3 H, 3 R, 3 RBI), junior John Stephen Hohmann (2 H, 1 R, 2 RBI), and senior Mitch Galardi (2 H, 0 R, 1 RBI) all had multiple hits in the Lions fourth win of the season.

In its final game of the tournament, St. Mark's faced conference foe, Greenhill, on Saturday morning. The Lions came out sluggish, surrendering two runs in the first after two walks and two balks by starting pitcher Jackson Williams gave the Hornets an early lead. St. Mark's tied up the score in the top of the third when senior Alex Barrett (1 H, 1 R) scored on an errant throw by the Hornet catcher, which was followed by senior Grayson Redmond (1 H, 2 R) being plated by Williams' deep sacrifice fly to CF. However, Greenhill responded with three runs in the bottom of the third after two defensive miscues and a timely single by the Hornets 9-hole hitter put the game out of reach. With one out and runners at 1st and 2nd base, sophomore Jackson Ostella singled in Redmond on a sharply hit ball to CF. The Lions then loaded the bases but were not able to scratch any more runs across, ending the game in a 3-6 loss. St. Mark's returns to action with a home game against TACA on Tuesday (4 p.m.) and a night game on Thursday at HSAA (7 p.m.).       

LACROSSE 
St. Mark’s varsity lacrosse opened the season at home against Lovejoy HS on Tuesday evening.  A back and forth game full of multigoal runs resulted in a 10-9 overtime loss for the Lions.  Tough play kept St. Mark’s in the game, and everyone was proud of the effort.  Over the weekend, St. Mark’s traveled to Houston for a Friday evening tilt with Episcopal HS, followed by a Saturday noon faceoff against St. John’s.  A stalwart defense, sound goalie play, and a patient offense allowed the Lions to win against Episcopal in double overtime, 7-6. Saturday’s game would not end the same way, as St. Mark’s struggled to get going and lost to St. John’s 11-6. This week the team battles Jesuit at home on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m., and then will depart for San Diego on Friday night to spend four days together while facing off against St. Augustine HS and Coronado HS.

TRACK & FIELD 
The varsity track & field team enjoyed another successful outing at the Fort Worth Country Day Invitational. The team finished second to the host, FWCD, with a less than full squad.  The individuals on the team produced 21 PRs (personal records) and numerous SBs (seasonal best) throughout the day.  Freshman AJ Thomas led the team with a 1st place in the 300H and a 5th in the 110H as well as being a part of the 5th place 4x400R.  Ethan Singleton was close behind with a 2nd in the 200m and a 3rd in the 400m.  Parker Steinbrueck was solid again with 2nd in the 800m and 1600m.  Bobby Strauss finished 4th in the Shot Put with a big PR and finally breaking the 40’ barrier with a throw of 40’ 5”.  He also came through in the Discus with a 2nd place finish.  The Pole Vaulters made their debut and had a good day.  Ace Wilburn led the group with a 3rd place finish (9’) while Hale Peterson and Jake Levy vaulted 7’ 6” to garner the next two spots.  A good day for all.  Next up, SM will host a Double Dual Meet with SM., Jesuit, Hockaday and Ursuline this Thursday, March 7, starting at 4:30 p.m.

GOLF 
On Monday, March 4, the St. Mark’s varsity golf team competed in the Dallas Invitational Tournament hosted by Jesuit at Brookhaven Country Club.  Freshman Sam Merryman led the way for the Lions with a 76 on a day when scores were high across the board, thanks to gusts of wind and less-than-stellar putting surfaces.  Fellow freshman James Hoak and sophomore Duff McKay also played in the 70s, while the fivesome of junior Robbie Tate, sophomore Jonathan Lobel, freshman Peter Clark, freshman Nolan Wartman and freshman Luke Rogers combined to take home 3rd place honors in the JV division of the event.  The Lions will return to action following spring break with a March 20th tournament at All Saints’ Invitational at Hawks Creek in Fort Worth.