Lions Win SPC

TRACK & FIELD
The varsity track & field team traveled to Houston on Friday and Saturday to compete in the SPC Championships. This year’s format was field events, 3200m, and 4 x800m on day one. Day two was running finals only. Friday started with Shot Put, Long Jump, and Pole Vault. The Lions started off great in the Shot Put with Sam Eluemunoh, Julian Carlson, and George Genender all throwing PR’s. Sam threw 47’ 1.5” to place third. Over at the Long Jump, Zane Wallace was having some step problems, but figured it out and finished second. Rapha Mitterer-Claudet stepped up and finished eighth to earn an unexpected team point. In the Pole Vault, Winston Lee equaled his PR of 11’ and finished fifth overall. The 3200m produced some expected and unexpected results. Sahil Dodda ran a good, smart race and won going away, which was expected. But Raja Mehendale and Trey Stager were running very good races as well and finished sixth and seventh to earn more valuable points.

The second round of field events produced some expected and some heart aches as well. Zane dominated the Triple Jump with an SPC Record jump of 46’ 7.75” for first place. The overwhelming favorite in the Discus, Sam Eluemunoh, along with everyone else in the field, was having a tough time with the new discus ring being too slick. After five rounds, Sam was in third place. Sam came up for his final throw and out it went to 134’ 5” for the victory! The High Jump started a little later and Mateu Parker and Mitterer-Claudet were ready to go. Opening height was 5’ 8”, and both of their PR’s were 5’ 8”…so no margin for error! Rapha missed his first attempt , but cleared the height on his 2nd chance and Mateu came up big and made it on his 1st attempt. Neither made the next height, but that did not matter. They had both scored valuable points for the team.

The last event was the 4x800m Relay…the most anticipated race of the meet. There were three teams in contention for first place. John Cooper, untested Houston Christian, and St. Mark’s. The Lions had barely beaten John Cooper at the meet in Houston and knew they were gunning for us. Fisayo Omonije ran the first leg well and was in first, but Raja and Zach Lightfoot were off a little bit in the 2nd and 3rd legs. Zach handed off to Sahil and the chase began. The Lions were in third and about 80m behind John Cooper. That didn’t matter, Sahil started churning the legs and closed the gap with each step. In the end, he gained about 50m back, but it wasn’t quite enough. SM stilled managed second place and picked up more valuable points. The end of the first day had the Lions leading with 76.5 points, 10.5 point more than Coach Turek had predicted. Things were looking good!

Day two started with a bang. The 4x100 Relay Team came into the meet with the fourth best time of 43.29. The team of Temi Balogun, Jack Jackson, Elijah Ellis, and Zane Wallace stormed around the track with great handoffs and finished second in 42.54 and increased the team lead. Of note, their time of 42.54 was the fastest time in 14 years!  The next event was another marque event for the meet, the 800m. This year, there were 11 boys who qualified in under 2:00. The deepest field in SPC History. Fisayo Omonije sat at the top of the SPC rankings, with Sahil ranked 7th. The race went exactly as planned. Fisayo and Sahil trailed behind the Houston Christian top runner for 680m and coming off the turn, Fisayo hit the gas pedal and went around the outside of him and kept going, as the runner was looking at Fisayo, Sahil shifted gears also and passed him on the inside. The Lion duo finished 1-2, with Fisayo just missing his school record in 1:54.43 and Sahil moving all the way up to the #2 All-Time mark with 1:54.72.

That race was likely the clencher…now the Lions just had to compete the rest of the meet and stayed focus. The next event was the 110m Hurdles being run by Enoch Ellis with the top time in the SPC and the defending champion. He held true to form and won easily in 14.46. Akash Raghunathan ran well, but just missed his PR. The next event was the 100m in which Jack Jackson was one of the top runners. The race played out to order with Kinkaid running well and Jack finishing third overall. The next event was the 400m which was also loaded across the board. Blake Malouf was the Lions’ top runner and finished eighth overall and earned another point for the team. Mateu Parker also ran a PR. The next event was the 300m Hurdles which again, had Enoch with the top time and the defending champion. He did not have his best race, but still finished second and ran his fastest time of the season. The next event was the 200m with Jackson amongst the leaders in the conference. Temi Balogun and Zane Wallace were just a bit outside that group, or so Coach Turek thought. Jack chose to sit this race out to rest his legs and keep fresh for the 4x400 Relay. Temi ran a great race and finished 7th overall to give us additional points. Zane ran very close to his PR and finished just out of the money.

The next event was a big one, the 1600m and the last chance to watch Sahil Dodda race in a St. Mark’s uniform. When they towed the line, all eyes were on Sahil. And…he did not disappoint. He took off from the gun with the St. John’s runner right behind him. They quickly separated themselves from the pack and began churning out the laps. With a lap to go, Sahil separated himself from everyone and was running solo, chasing time and the SPC Record. He crossed the line in 4:13.56, a new PR, a new School Record and a new SPC Record! What a fitting finish to an incredible season/career for this incredible young man. But….the Lions weren’t done. One event to go, the 4x400m Relay, to put the finishing touches on an incredible performance from the entire team. St. Mark’s lined up with the fastest time in the conference, our school record achieved 3 week earlier in 3:20.56. Would it be fast enough? Houston Christian had a time just behind SM, but at a different meet. A showdown was looming. The gun went off and Malouf ran tough and kept his team in the race. Enoch Ellis got the baton and ran well, but Houston Christian was really running and pulling away. Jack Jackson got the baton next about 30m from the lead and blazed the backstretch and closed ground like people were standing still. At the final handoff, the Lions were even with Houston Christian…Jack had run an incredible 48.5 split! Fisayo Omonije and the runner from Houston Christian battled the entire way until coming off the final turn. In the end, Fisayo was less than a step back at the finish line. What an incredible race! Fisayo’s split was 48.5 also. The relay team had broken our school record again with 3:19.82, but lost by less than 0.2 tenths of a second. Both teams had broken the SPC Record. What an ending to an incredible championship and season!

TENNIS 
The varsity tennis team was in Houston to compete in the SPC Championship Tournament. The Lions played a strong first match Friday morning against St. Andrew's, battling hard and coming away with a 3-2 win. A great team effort with strong showings from 2 doubles (Will Grable & Shreyan Daulat) and 3 singles (Arnav Lahoti). On Friday night, the team faced #1 seed St. John’s and had a tough loss despite playing high quality tennis. On Saturday, The Lions matched up with Kinkaid.  It was a challenging match for several players, but the team stuck with it and pulled out a 3-2 victory with Arnav Lahoti bringing in the winning point to give the Lions 3rd place in the SPC! 
 
LACROSSE
The varsity lacrosse team took Hunt Stadium for the last time this season on Saturday as the #4 seeded home team in the THSLL Class AA State Quarterfinals and squared off against the #5 seed Dragons of Southlake Carroll. After some back-and-forth action the Dragons stuck first when a Southlake player stole the ball from goalkeeper Ian Williams and dunked their first score of the game. Henry Piccagli answered right back a minute later with an alley dodge as he fought for inside position while closing in on the crease and taking a cross check to the neck, but still buried a five hole shot past the goalie. Two minutes later senior captain Ian Mize came off a low wing pick from Murphy Paul to come topside and bury a lefty sidewinder past the goalie’s stick side high. Shortly after the Dragons answered with a goal of their own from a similar location due to a defensive breakdown and miscommunication leaving their shooter uncontested, beating the Lions goaltender off stick high by the near post of the goal. The Dragons took their second lead of the game with 2:02 in the first frame. Ian Mize set up his assault from the lefty low wing coming around the big pick set by junior midfielder Henry Boykin which drew a double team which then caused him to slide off balance. He quickly recovered to his feet and swims through the double team, leaving him virtually uncovered and one on one with the goalie where he buries a shot past the goal tender, tying the score 3-3 with 1:06 remaining on the clock. The next face off was won by face off specialist Alex Geng as he pushed the ball forward and then knocked it back to short stick midfielder John Charest. The Lions were patient in their last possession of the quarter, moving the ball around quickly when junior Jake Park found an open Henry Piccagli cutting down the middle of the field for a quick stick dunk giving the Lions a 4-3 lead. The next goal was almost a carbon copy, but it happened a lot faster due to the quick ball movement around and through to Jake Park who found a two on one scenario and fed Henry Piccagli for a step down rip which went five-hole once again with five seconds remaining in the first period. The Lions then led 7-5 entering half time. With a 10-5 lead in the middle of the 3rd quarter, the Lions allowed the Dragons to quickly close the gap to 12-12 after a failed clear with two 2:20 remaining in the 4th quarter. Fortunately, Ian Mize drew a double team and found Herny Boykin who carried his man below the goal line extended and rolled back around to the front of the net to hit the game winner as he took a cross check to put the lines up 13-12 with 1:28 left. The Lions were then able to run out the clock and punch their ticket to the THSLL Class AA Final Four that will held this weekend in Dripping Springs, TX near Austin. The Lions will face the #1 seeded Jesuit Rangers at 12:00 p.m.
 
CREW
Finally, the varsity crew and water polo teams will compete on the district and state levels, respectively, this weekend. Crew travels to Oklahoma City to take part in the Central District Youth Rowing Championship and water polo heads to the University of Houston to compete in the TISCA State Championship as defending champions.