Lions Sports Update 05/01

 

The Varsity Water Polo team competed in the North Texas Region Championships on Saturday, April 26.  They earned their 13^th consecutive North Region Title beating Rockwall – Heath (15-4), Southlake Carroll (20-2), and Denton HS (16-3) in the process.  Timothy Simenc ‘15 was named North Region MVP.  Jack Mallick ‘14 and Nathan Ondracek ‘15 were selected to the First All Region Team. Mason Smith ‘15 made Third All Region Team, and Bradley Mankoff ‘14 was named Honorable Mention.  The team will play in the 42^nd Texas State Championship on May 1 and 2, at the UT Swim Center in Austin. The first game will be against Strake Jesuit.

 

 

The Varsity Baseball team wrapped up SPC counter play last week with Oakridge and ESD.  Needing to win both games in order to make the SPC D1 tournament, the team was focused and up to the challenge.  On April 22, they traveled to Oakridge.  With several lead changes in the game, the team overcame several defensive errors and picked up a couple of clutch RBI hits in the top of the 7^th inning to secure a 5-3 win.   On April 24, the team hosted the ESD Eagles in the final regular season game.  With ESD attempting to play spoiler, the Eagles jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on several defensive miscues…but the Lions fought back scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 2^nd to close the ESD lead to just one run.  Again, the Eagles pushed the lead to 4 runs and the Lions were down 3-7 in the middle of the 5^th inning.  The Lions answered with 5 runs of their own in the bottom of the 5^th inning to take an 8-7 lead into the sixth inning.  After a scoreless 6^th inning by both teams, ESD scratched across a run in the top of the 7^th to tie the game at 8.  The Lions were unable to score in the bottom of the 7^th sending the game into extra innings.   In the top of the 8^th inning, 3 errors and 2 hits led to 4 ESD runs and it looked as if the Lions mistakes would prevent the team from its goal of making the D1 tournament.  However, the Lions still had 3 outs left.  Trailing 8-12 going into the bottom of 8^th inning, the Lions first 2 hitters reached base (walk and an error).  After a strike out and a sacrifice fly which made it 9-12 with two outs, the Lions put together clutch hit after clutch hit.  Jackson Cole ‘16, Brannon Rouse ‘16, Ford Robinson ‘14, and Jack Dayton ‘15 delivered consecutive RBI singles all with 2 outs, and the Lions won the game 13-12 in walk-off fashion.  Because of the two wins, the team earned the #2 seed in the SPC North Zone and will play St. John’s at St. Mark’s at 9:00 a.m. on May 2. 

 

 

The Varsity Track team held their annual intersquad meet and barbeque on April 26 as the final tune up before the SPC track meet.  St. Mark’s is hosting the SPC meet this year and we will have close to 1,000 track and field athletes on campus for this 2 day championship meet which starts at 9:00 a.m. each day.  This is a tremendous event and I would encourage you to come out and watch our young men in action on May 1 and 2.

 

 

The Varsity Tennis team had a tremendous week, defeating league opponents Oakridge and ESD, both by 5-0 scores. In doing so, the Lions wrapped up the #2 seed in the North Zone for the SPC Tournament, and will face St. Andrew’s on May 2 at 11:00 a.m. at Greenhill in the first-round of the tournament.

 

 

The Varsity Lacrosse team lost their district playoff game to Southlake. The Lions led most of the game and were behind by a goal in the fourth quarter. Freshman Jake Vaughn scored the game tying goal with :23 left in the 4^th quarter, but last second heroics prevailed for Southlake as they scored off of the ensuing faceoff with :08 left to win the game.  Jack Fojtasek ‘15 and Riley Graham ‘14 both received THSLL All-State honors, and Connor Mullen ‘15 and Landon Montgomery ‘15 were named to the All-District team.

 

 

The Crew Team raced at the Texas Rowing Championship Regatta Saturday, April 26^th in Austin.  Of the six events entered, Lions Crew qualified for finals in event which earned the JV Quad, Novice Double, Varsity Quad, JV Double, Varsity Double, and Novice Quad another race.  Of those qualifying, all but the novice boats went on to medal.  Traditionally Novice boats have had a huge disadvantage against clubs and crews who have been practicing all year long.  Not only did the Novice boats qualify but narrowly missed the podium with 4^th places in both events.