Lions Sports Update 11/11

The varsity cross country team traveled to Austin to compete in the SPC Cross Country Championships on the campus of St. Andrew’s. Under less than ideal conditions, drizzling rain and a very muddy course, the Lions trudged through the course to earn a third place finish behind St. John’s and St. Stephen’s. It was the second year in a row that the Lions finished third in what has become a very competitive conference, both in terms of outstanding runners and outstanding teams. The Lions were led by senior JT Graass ’16 who finished in 3rd place, capping off a stellar SPC career earning All-SPC awards all four years on the varsity team. Right behind him, Daniel Cope ’17 finished in 4th place also earning All-SPC honors. Seth Weprin ’19 finished 22nd overall. What made his performance outstanding was the fact that he lost one of his shoes a half-mile into the race finishing the last 2.5 miles with only 1 shoe! Behind him was Sam Shane ’18 in 26th place, Scott Smythe ’17 in 35th place, Emmett Berger ’19 in 50th place, and Andre Arsenault ’18 in 70th place.

 

The varsity volleyball team also traveled to Austin to play in the SPC Championship Tournament. The team entered the tournament with the #1 seed from the SPC North Zone. In the first round, the Lions took on Trinity Valley. The Lions looked like they were hitting on all cylinders, winning the match 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-14). The Lions next match was the last match of the night. After a long wait the Lions finally took the court after 8:00 p.m. against Casady, a team they had faced in the SPC Finals the last 2 years. The Lions dominated set 1, winning 25-15. The Cyclones were not going to go away that easily though, coming back and winning set 2 by a score of 23-25. The Lions regrouped and won a convincing set 3 (25-16). Needing just 1 more set win to advance the finals for the 6th year in a row and to defend their 3 straight SPC titles, the Lions started to run out of gas. Casady fought to win set 4 (17-25), taking the momentum with them in the process. The 5th and final set went back and forth, but the Lions couldn’t hold off a now hot Casady team, losing set 5 by a score of 11-15. Exhausted and disappointed, but having left it all on the court, the Lions needed to regroup for the 3rd place match on Saturday against the #1 seed from the SPC South Zone who had also been upset in the semi-finals, the St. John’s Mavericks. The Lions started strong again, taking set 1 (25-19). St. John’s made it closer in set 2, but the Lions held on to win 25-23. The Mavericks slowly crept back into the game, squeaking out a 25-27 win in set 3 to stay alive and then taking set 4 as well 22-25. Having lost momentum again, each and every one of the Lions players knew they had to play tougher and smarter in the final set of the season. This time, the Lions prevailed, winning the 5th set (15-12) and earning 3rd place at SPC. The 9 seniors on the roster were able to finish their St. Mark’s careers with a meaningful win against a very good opponent. 

 

Emmanuel Acho ’08 was resigned with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL this week after recovering from hand surgery to start this NFL season. Manny will see time on both the Eagle’s defense as a linebacker and on special teams on the kick and punt coverage teams. Read more about Manny HERE.

 

Tim Simenc ’15 scored a hat trick (3 goals) in the #2 ranked Cal-Berkeley Golden Bear’s final home Water Polo game of the season against Pepperdine University (more about the game HERE). Tim now has 14 goals on the season.   

 

Sam Acho ’07 recorded 2 tackles in the Chicago Bears win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.