Winter SPC Recap

The Soccer team was the #5 seed from the North Zone going into the SPC tournament and faced Houston Christian, the #4 seed from the South Zone.  The Lions trailed 0–1 at the half but fought hard and were able to score a goal in the 63rd minute when sophomore Nolan Jenevein found the back of the net to tie the game 1–1.  After a scoreless remainder of the game and scoreless OT, the game went to penalty kicks. Will Diamond '16, Nolan Jenevein '17, Alex Sanchez '16, Oscar Garcia del Rio '15, and Jack Dayton '15 represented the Lions in the PKs.  All five players scored, and junior goalkeeper Sam Eichenwald’s save of the 3rd HC PK was all the Lions needed to get the first round win.  In the next round, the Lions were up against a tough ESD team— they were the #1 seed from the North Zone and had already defeated the Lions during the SPC counter game season.  With ESD coming off of a bye in the first round, their fresh legs made a difference and they were able to beat the Lions by a score of 0–3.  The Lions moved on to the 5th-place game against Greenhill.  Both teams played an even game, finishing with a score of 2–2.  Once again, the Lions found themselves needing PKs for the win, but fell short this time, losing 2–3 and finishing 6th place overall in the conference.

The Swimming team went into the SPC Swimming Championship Meet as clear favorites, having won the previous 6 SPC Championship Meets.  The “Sea” Lions did not disappoint.  The team set two SPC records in the 200 Medley Relay (Nathan Ondracek '15, Eric Li '16, Richard Jiang '15, & Kevin Kim '16) and in the 200 Free Relay (Kevin Wu '16, Mason Smith '15, Kevin Kim '16, & Eric Li '16), and had numerous other races dominated by individual swimmers, like the 200 Individual Medley where the Lions took the top 4 spots (Jacob Hum '17—1st, Richard Jiang '15—2nd, Eddie Ro '18—3rd, & Ethan Pittson '18—4th) and the 50 Free (Eric Li '16—1st, Kevin Kim '16—2nd, & Kevin Wu '16—3rd). The team scored 209 points in the victory, scoring more points than the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place teams combined!

The Wrestling team went into the SPC tournament knowing that we needed all of our wrestlers to perform at their best in order to bring the SPC Championship back to St. Mark’s.  Led by a group of motivated seniors, the team had wrestlers make it to the finals in 8 of the 14 weight classes and 3 more made it to the 3rd-place matches. With a team lead of only 1 point (150–149) after the 3rd–place matches were complete, the team knew they had their work cut out for them against the defending SPC champs from St. John’s, who they were matched up against in 5 of the 8 finals matches.  The Lions came up huge with four wrestlers winning their respective weight classes (Will Wood '18 at 106 lbs, Jake Holder '15 at 145 lbs, Justin Jones '15 at 170 lbs, and Andrew McClain '15 at 182 lbs,) and seven others finishing in the top 4 (Tucker Ribman '18—2nd place at 113 lbs, Ivan Day '17—3rd at 120 lbs, Calvin Hosler '18—2nd at 132 lbs, Blake Spangler '15—2nd at 138 lbs, Eli Ware '17—2nd at 152 lbs, Kobe Roseman '18—4th at 160 lbs, and Travis Nadalini '15—4th at 220 lbs).  The team scored 175 points in the tournament to win the SPC Title, edging out the 2nd place team, St. John’s, by just 10 points!  The wrestling team then competed in the Prep State Tournament this past Saturday at McKinney Christian. Justin Jones '15 (1st at 170 lbs) and Jake Holder '15 (1st at 145 lbs) won Texas Prep State Titles, and Tucker Ribman '18 (3rd at 113 lbs), Blake Spangler '15 (2nd at 138 lbs), Andrew McClain '15 (2nd at 182 lbs), and Travis Nadalini '15 (3rd at 220 lbs) all qualified for the Prep National Tournament at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania this weekend!  Good luck on the national stage boys!