Lion Sports Update (01/19)

SWIMMING
The Lion varsity swimmers were back in action last week for the first time in 2022. Taking on Bishop Lynch and 6A powerhouse Southlake Carroll. Against Bishop Lynch, the Lions would dominate with a 223 to 50 win. Taking 1st in all 11 events and going 1,2,3 in 7 of the 11. However, Southlake Carroll flipped the script on the Lions, finishing on top and handing St. Mark’s their first loss of the season, 249 to 181. Even in defeat, it was a great meet for the Lions seeing half the team post personal bests and others getting within striking distance of their top times. Notable swims from seniors Brett Honaker (100 and 200 Freestyle) and Nicolas Gomez (100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke) paced the Lions and they both won their events, posting season bests in the process. Looking forward, the Lions have Greenhill remaining on their schedule Thursday, January 20th then the SPC Championships in Arlington the 11th of February.  

WRESTLING 
St. Mark’s Wrestling had two tough dual matches against St. John’s Houston and Plano East High School on Friday, January 14. The final team score for the first match was St. John’s 44 and St. Mark’s 30. Wrestling duals are a total of 14 matches; however, we only gave up one forfeit at 170 lbs, spotting St. John’s 6 points. Out of the remaining matches the Lions won 6 out of 13 matches. Four of the matches were won by way of pin (H. Metcalf, J. Kim, S. Abbasi, and E. Ellis). The Lions then took the mat against 6A powerhouse, Plano East High School. The Lions clawed hard and won 5 out of the 14 matches with sophomore AJ Ball receiving a forfeit at 132lbs. The next four matches won by Lions were all pins (H. Metcalf, J. Kim, W. Loehr, and E. Ellis). With these two losses, the Lions dual record is now 6-4 on the season. St. Mark’s wrestling hosts the Prep State Duals Tournament this Saturday, January 22 starting at 9:00 a.m. in Spencer Gymnasium. There are 14 teams from SPC and TAPPS vying for the team state title. Come out and support your Lion wrestlers.
 
SOCCER
The varsity soccer team began the much-anticipated SPC North Zone Counter season quite successfully, earning all six points from their Ft. Worth brethren. Nevertheless, the task proved difficult and senior goalkeeper Stefan Moreno made critical and spectacular saves late in both matches to preserve the shutouts. Hosting the Falcons of Ft. Worth Country Day, the Lions took the early lead in the fourth minute when sophomore John Ma executed a low-driven service that caught the Falcon defense by surprise and was redirected into the net by a Country Day defender for an own goal. Within three minutes, senior Noah Soliz took senior Will Shoup’s pass and penetrated the Falcon defense with a powerful effort that beat the Falcon goalkeeper. Soliz would add another goal early in the second half when his left-footed service from the left flank drifted beyond the Falcon keeper, who was off his line, nestling inside the far post under the crossbar. 
On Friday, the Lions traveled to Trinity Valley where, once again, Soliz found the back of the net with an emphatically struck salvo from the right edge of the penalty area, courtesy of senior Lars Ochs’ deftly played pass into space for the oncoming Soliz. The Lions scored in the third minute with a strong wind at their back which gave promise of what was to come. Ironically, that would be the only goal of the match as St. Mark’s preserved the one-goal shutout for seventy-seven gut-wrenching minutes. In both matches, outstanding defensive play from juniors John Charest and Murphy Paul, along with senior Zack Stone and Ma helped preserve both shutouts. St. Mark’s will have their stiffest test of the season with counters on the road at Cistercian (Wednesday, Jan. 19) and Casady (Saturday, Jan. 22), along with hosting Greenhill over the next two weeks. All three of those teams are either level with or above St. Mark’s in the North Zone table. Having now played more matches than all of last season, the Lions are grateful to be playing and training, but still look forward to a match where the full complement of players will be available.  
 
BASKETBALL
Last week, the varsity basketball team won a pair of home games. On January 11th, The Lions hosted Ft. Worth Country Day for the SPC North Zone season opener. The navy and gold exploded for 51 first-half points, thanks in part to junior Rapha Mitterer-Claudet attacking the rim time and time again. Freshman Luke Laczkowski took over from there, sinking several threes en route to a season-high (and team-high) 16 points. Senior Corvin Oprea notched his twentieth double-figure outing of the season with 14 points, which proved to be the final margin in the Lions’ 77-63 victory. Two nights later, Spencer Gym was again the site of a home team triumph. All 11 players on the roster scored, as the Marksmen rode the hot shooting of junior Arjun Khatti (five made three-pointers) to a non-conference win over Thomas Jefferson. This week, the Lions play on the road at Cistercian (Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.) and Casady (Saturday at 1:00 p.m.) in SPC NZ counters as well as host Carrollton Ranchview on Friday at 5:45 p.m.
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St. Mark’s School of Texas

10600 Preston Road
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.