Lion Sports Update (04/28)
Tennis
The varsity tennis team had an exciting week of matches right before starting to wind down the season. On Tuesday, the team took on Cistercian on a cold and very windy afternoon. While conditions were not prime for playing, our athletes pulled through with strength and determination. At line 1 singles, Mark Motlow cruised through his first set, finishing at 6-0 in a short period of time, but his opponent suddenly found his groove in the second set, and Mark suddenly faced a very tight second set, going toe-to-toe until the tiebreaker at 6-6 where he was finally able to close out the match 7-2 in the breaker. At line 2, Jeremy Yu took on a great athlete and shot maker, but this player was no match for Jeremy who was able to dominate the match 6-0, 6-3. Line 3 saw Patrick Flanagan continue his winning streak and was once again first to come off the court as he completely took control of his match and earned the first point for the Lions at 6-0, 6-0. Line 1 doubles had the longest match, sometimes getting ahead, and at other times allowing the windy day to affect their play, but Alex Ryan and Ekansh Tambe still managed to close the match out in 2 sets 6-3, 7-5, but not without a fight. Line 2 doubles proved they are a tough duo to handle. Shreyan Daulat and Amogh Naganand got off to a strong start and kept the momentum going winning 6-0, 6-0, not allowing their opponents a chance to get into the match. On Thursday, the Lions faced big rival ESD in a high-stakes match. Patrick Flanagan at line 3 didn’t waste any time finishing his match. His fast-paced winning streak continued as he defeated his opponent 6-0, 6-0 in under an hour and went on the cheer and support the rest of his teammates who were in really close games. Mark Motlow was involved in a fierce battle with his opponent, each trying to hold serve. He had a tough break in the first set and lost it 3-6, he fought hard to stay in the second set, hoping to take the match to 3 sets, but eventually fell in the second set tiebreaker 3-7 losing the set 6-7. Jeremy Yu had a rough start against his opponent, whom he had previously gone to 3 sets with. He dropped the first set 4-6, and it looked like things weren’t trending well for him, but he slowly started finding his rhythm in the second set and pulled it off at 6-4. By the third set, he had gained his confidence back while his opponent was succumbing to the pressure. He sealed the match with a 6-2 third set. Once the doubles lines went on, they didn’t take very long to establish their dominance at both lines. Alex Ryan and Ekansh Tambe served strong to gain the upper edge and won 6-1, 6-2. Shreyan Daulat and Arnav Lahoti, a freshman representing the Lions for the first time, didn’t even have to finish their match as the win was called for St Mark’s, yet they still achieved a quick 8-1 win. By securing both victories, the tennis team remained undefeated for the 2021 season and became the winner of the SPC North Zone. Now St. Mark’s will face St. John’s, who finished #1 in the SPC South Zone in the SPC Championship match on Saturday, May 1st at SMU. Spectators at SMU are limited to parents and siblings.
The varsity tennis team had an exciting week of matches right before starting to wind down the season. On Tuesday, the team took on Cistercian on a cold and very windy afternoon. While conditions were not prime for playing, our athletes pulled through with strength and determination. At line 1 singles, Mark Motlow cruised through his first set, finishing at 6-0 in a short period of time, but his opponent suddenly found his groove in the second set, and Mark suddenly faced a very tight second set, going toe-to-toe until the tiebreaker at 6-6 where he was finally able to close out the match 7-2 in the breaker. At line 2, Jeremy Yu took on a great athlete and shot maker, but this player was no match for Jeremy who was able to dominate the match 6-0, 6-3. Line 3 saw Patrick Flanagan continue his winning streak and was once again first to come off the court as he completely took control of his match and earned the first point for the Lions at 6-0, 6-0. Line 1 doubles had the longest match, sometimes getting ahead, and at other times allowing the windy day to affect their play, but Alex Ryan and Ekansh Tambe still managed to close the match out in 2 sets 6-3, 7-5, but not without a fight. Line 2 doubles proved they are a tough duo to handle. Shreyan Daulat and Amogh Naganand got off to a strong start and kept the momentum going winning 6-0, 6-0, not allowing their opponents a chance to get into the match. On Thursday, the Lions faced big rival ESD in a high-stakes match. Patrick Flanagan at line 3 didn’t waste any time finishing his match. His fast-paced winning streak continued as he defeated his opponent 6-0, 6-0 in under an hour and went on the cheer and support the rest of his teammates who were in really close games. Mark Motlow was involved in a fierce battle with his opponent, each trying to hold serve. He had a tough break in the first set and lost it 3-6, he fought hard to stay in the second set, hoping to take the match to 3 sets, but eventually fell in the second set tiebreaker 3-7 losing the set 6-7. Jeremy Yu had a rough start against his opponent, whom he had previously gone to 3 sets with. He dropped the first set 4-6, and it looked like things weren’t trending well for him, but he slowly started finding his rhythm in the second set and pulled it off at 6-4. By the third set, he had gained his confidence back while his opponent was succumbing to the pressure. He sealed the match with a 6-2 third set. Once the doubles lines went on, they didn’t take very long to establish their dominance at both lines. Alex Ryan and Ekansh Tambe served strong to gain the upper edge and won 6-1, 6-2. Shreyan Daulat and Arnav Lahoti, a freshman representing the Lions for the first time, didn’t even have to finish their match as the win was called for St Mark’s, yet they still achieved a quick 8-1 win. By securing both victories, the tennis team remained undefeated for the 2021 season and became the winner of the SPC North Zone. Now St. Mark’s will face St. John’s, who finished #1 in the SPC South Zone in the SPC Championship match on Saturday, May 1st at SMU. Spectators at SMU are limited to parents and siblings.
Lacrosse
The varsity lacrosse team hosted Highland Park last Thursday night, April 22nd. On a special evening, Doc Browning, a long-standing member of the St. Mark’s community, was honored at the beginning of the game with an honorary faceoff setting the tone for a great evening of lacrosse. Despite no seniors on this year’s squad to celebrate, the alliance of juniors, sophomores, and freshmen took a moment to honor the game. The Scots struck first in the first 23 seconds of the contest scoring their first goal. Alex Geng pushed the ball forward on the ensuing faceoff to Henry Piccagli who stuck an amazing 12-yard shot right above the HP goalie’s right ear stick side. It only took six seconds to answer. The score was tied with 4 minutes and 44 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter with a score from Ian Mize, assisted by Henry Boykin who made his return after being injured for most of the season. HP began the second quarter man-up, leading 5 to 2, which allowed them to extend their lead of possession time. Ian Mize answered with another goal at the eight-minute and 27-second mark to bring the Lions within two goals at the half. The Lions gained a little bit more momentum with a few more goals, one by Ian Mize and a 15-yard howitzer of a shot from Henry Boykin, bringing the Lions within one of tying the score. Faceoff specialist Alex Geng battled all evening long while suffering a high ankle sprain during the game. St. Mark’s ran out of ammo as the Scots pulled away late in the 3rd and 4th quarters. On the evening, your Lion top scorers were Ian Mize with five goals, Henry Boykin, who had two goals and one assist, and Henry Piccagli and Conor Duffy each contributed one goal on the evening. Despite a strong offensive and defensive effort in the first half of the competition, the Lions dropped its final regular-season game 16-9 to the Scots of Highland Park. Ending the regular season with a 5–5 record and a 3-2 record in District play. Now the Lions will begin the THSLL Class A playoffs with their first contest in the Class A Championship bracket this Saturday, May 1st, against Plano West HS at Allen High School’s Track Stadium (view location HERE) at 10 AM.
Track & Field
The varsity track & field team traveled to Greenhill School for a small “tune-up” meet to prepare for the upcoming SPC North Zone and SPC Championships. In a very “low-keyed” meet, the Lions roared once again. Led by hurdler Enoch Ellis, the team had some very impressive marks. Enoch lowered his SPC leading mark in the 110h to 14.95, his new PR. He also won the 300h in a comfortable 40.47 and then came back about 20 minutes later to finish 2nd in the 200m with a new PR of 23.05. Cristian Pereira had a good couple of days with a PR in the Long Jump (20’ 7”), 2nd in the 100m & Triple Jump, and 4th in the 200m. Sam Eluemunoh won both the shot put and discus. Michael Vanesko equaled his PR in the Pole Vault with 13’, good for 2nd place. Sahil Dodda led the distance core with an easy win in the 1600m while our 4x800R teams finished 1-2-3-4. This week we travel back to Greenhill for the SPC North Zone meet on Friday & Saturday.
Golf
On April 19th, sixteen Lions met at Brookhaven Country Club for the first-ever Daisy Invitational. Along with several other SPC schools, Hockaday competed in two separate boys/girls divisions on the Champions course. The format was a two-man scramble, so scores were far lower than normal since players could both hit and then choose the better of the two shots to play next. While scrambles are typical for those whose competitive careers long ago gave way to fun events like this, the format seemed foreign to our players, but it was a perfect opportunity for them to work together! Juniors Mac McKenzie and George Warren led the Lions with a joint score of 61, which was good enough for fourth place overall (ESD’s top pair shot a 60, and Trinity Valley had one duo also post a 60 and another 59 en route to winning the overall team score title). The sophomore team of James Thomson and Tommy Zheng shot 65, as did the junior tandem of Logan Johnson and Anashay Monga. However, this day was all about the seniors, many of whom were competing in their final event in a Lions uniform. It was so rewarding to see Luke Piazza back in action after a long layoff! Aaryan Puri had never competed before, but William Aniol was the perfect playing partner to make the experience a good one. John Hubbard and Rajan Joshi complemented each other very well en route to earning a score that exceeded their expectations. Luke Nayfa and Trevor Crosnoe continued a successful rapport, and Gabe Bines joined forces with long-time program leader and captain Rex Corey, to represent the program well. Working together with Luke Piazza, Sai Thirunagari capitalized on a great drive and second shot with the perfect 60-yard wedge to a par-5 green that rolled in for a sensational eagle! What a way for those guys to finish their careers!!
Baseball
The varsity baseball team opened the last scheduled week of SPC play on the road Tuesday afternoon at Cistercian. Although the Lions offense scored two runs behind red-hot hitters Jake Daniels (3 hits, 1 RBI, 1 run scored) and Daniel Sanchez (3 hits, 1 RBI, 1 run scored), the pitching staff was unable to consistently find the strike zone, leading to a two-out grand slam by the Cistercian clean-up hitter. The Lions were unable to mount a comeback, and the game ended 2-8 in favor of the Hawks. Friday’s game at ESD was rained out, so the spring season will extend into this week with St. Mark’s resuming the suspended contest vs. Ft. Worth Country Day in the top of the third, down 1-6 on Monday at 5:00 PM. Last Friday’s postponed game will be picked up on Tuesday at ESD at 5:00 PM. If St. Mark’s wins the next two games and Oakridge loses to Cistercian, the Lions will be in a four-way tie for first place and emerge as the North Zone champion due to head-to-head matchups vs. Oakridge, FWCD, and Trinity Valley.
Water Polo
After qualifying as the 1 seed for JV Championships, the JV water polo team defeated Flower Mound Marcus 19-3 in the semifinals in an overwhelming performance that was controlled from start to finish. Sophomore Aadi Khasgiwala leads the team in scoring with 7 goals and freshman Ethan Gao added 5 of his own. Three hours later the boys were at it again in the Championship game. With a defense that could not be penetrated, the Lions took control from the first quarter and never looked back. Goalie Caleb Maddox made huge blocks, including a 5 meter penalty shot that brought the Lion faithful to their feet. In the end, the Lions defeated Flower Mound 7-1 to win the JV Championships. The team ends the season undefeated.
St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
About Us
St. Mark’s School of Texas is a private, nonsectarian college-preparatory boys’ day school for students in grades 1 through 12, located in Dallas, Texas. St. Mark’s aims to prepare young men to assume leadership and responsibility in a competitive and changing world.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
St. Mark’s does not discriminate in the administration of its admission and education policies on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.
