Lion Sports Update (Jan. 18)

SOCCER
The varsity soccer team traveled to Ft. Worth Country Day to begin SPC north zone counter play. The Lions settled in on the new turf at Rosacker Stadium and, in the 19th minute, sophomore Alden Reagins took advantage of an exquisite service from junior Temi Balogun to break the deadlock. Senior Jacob Weinstein followed with another goal within two minutes, with assists attributed to Balogun and junior Reed Sussman. Junior John Ma would coolly convert a penalty kick after Weinstein was fouled in the penalty area as St. Mark’s led by three goals at halftime. A valiant effort from an undermanned Falcon team was stymied when junior Zachary Bashour took senior Akash Munshi’s deft pass at the edge of the penalty area and struck a cracker of a shot that was only stopped by the top corner of the Country Day net. Within minutes, sophomore Aydin Sumer took advantage of an exceptional pass from Reagins and then Reagins did the same when he was released into open space by Ma’s pass. With the score 6-0, senior Nat Fisher received a pass from senior Pierre Martinez that ended the match with a long-distance strike in stoppage time on what was literally the last kick before the fulltime whistle.

Then on Friday night, a very festive Fan Blizzard Night was a buzz as Trinity Valley arrived at Hunt Stadium to play both Hockaday and St. Mark’s. The Daisies and the Lions would prove victorious to maintain spotless SPC records. The Lions opened the scoring in the fourth minute as senior captain Murphy Paul celebrated his return from injury with a timely service to Sumer whose strike found the back of the net. Fifteen minutes later Balogun converted convincingly from Fisher’s assist and then minutes before halftime Sussman converted a penalty kick to give St. Mark’s another three-goal lead at halftime. Within a minute of the second half kickoff, Bashour had increased the lead to four when he took junior Ben Adams’ accurate pass and produced a quality finish that gave the Trojan keeper no chance. The matched proved closer than the score would indicate as Trinity Valley played with high intensity that required standout performances from junior goalkeeper Tyler Tang and defensive stalwart Akash Munshi. After Bashour earned a brace when he scored from a Sumer/Munshi combination, the Lions saw out the last quarter of an hour to earn another shutout. St. Mark’s will face their stiffest test of the counter season when they host Cistercian on Wednesday (6:30 p.m.) and Casady on Saturday (1 p.m.), both of whom also have spotless north zone records.

SWIMMING 
The varsity swim team took on Southlake Carroll last week and it was a spectacular meet giving a great indication of the end of season potential. Southlake, a perennial 6A powerhouse, would defeat the Lions 265 to 183, but the Lions took the opportunity to swim in big water (regulation size pool) to expand their personal best swims. Right from the start, the 200 Freestyle saw the Lions start strong. Freshman Miller Martin would bring home the top spot with a 1:46.11, junior captain Ethan Gao would drop his best time by 3 seconds, and sophomore Ben Chen would drop his personal best by 5 seconds. In the 200 IM, sophomore Daniel Deng would drop 4 seconds, and newcomer freshman Kevin Ho would improve his best time dropping 3 seconds as well.  In the 50 Freestyle Martin would again have a personal best with a time of 22.77, just hundredths faster than junior Adam Kappelman who was back on peak performance with his time of 22.85.  Also in the 50 Free, sophomore Leo Scheiner had a personal best with 24.17 and senior Michael Gao would post a personal best with a 24.55. In the 100 Butterfly, E. Gao again posted a personal best by more than 2 seconds as would fellow junior Adrian Lutgen who was able to shave off a few tenths of a second. In the 100 Freestyle, Kappelman and sophomore Sebastian Illum would bring in the top times for the Lions, Kappelman would out touch Illum by less than a second, both posting top times with Kappelman dropping more than 3 seconds and Sebastian with over 1 second.  In the 500 Freestyle, senior captain Sammy Larkin posted his personal best swimming a 5:10, 4 seconds faster than his 2022 SPC Finals time, and sophomore Reagan Brower would have his best time with a 10 second drop.  In the 100 Backstroke, Illum was at it again with a 57.91 to win the event, and junior Anderson Selinger was 3rd in that event. In the 100 Breaststroke, Lutgen was the Lions fastest time taking 4th, not his best time but his fastest of the season. In the post swim chat Lutgen said, “Coach, I got more in the tank.  I’ll be faster for SPC.”  Stick around to see if that proves true. Ho, would have another personal best this time dropping over 1 second in his 100 Breast to finish 7th. Up next, the Lions travel to Greenhill on Thursday, followed by their last home meet of the season on Friday, Jan. 27 which is Senior Night vs. FWCD and Cistercian. 
 
WRESTLING
The varsity wrestling team competed at Bishop Lynch High School on Friday, January 13. Originally billed as a tri-meet to include Bishop Lynch, St. Mark’s and St. John’s High School-Houston, due to time constraints, the Lions only wrestled St. John’s. This tough battle was highlighted by an incredible pin by freshman Jackson Barnes who continues to impress on the mat. Final Match Results: St. John’s (54) vs St. Mark’s (27). This weekend, the Lions head to the Prep State Duals hosted by St. John’s in Houston to compete against all private schools. The team returns next week to host Episcopal School of Dallas on Senior Night on Wednesday, Jan. 25 in Spencer Gymnasium. 
 
BASKETBALL
The varsity basketball team continued its win streak with a pair of convincing conference wins. On Tuesday evening, the Lions traveled to Fort Worth Country Day. After forging an early lead, foul trouble allowed the Falcons to claw their way back into the game. Following halftime, however, the junior trio of Bryan Graham (ten points), Lucas Blumenthal (15 points, 11 rebounds), and CJ Ness (13 points, ten rebounds) made major impacts that fueled a 16-point Lions victory. On Friday, St. Mark’s hosted Trinity Valley on Fan Blizzard night. The Lions used 13 makes from behind the three-point arc (three each from sophomore Lawrence Gardner, junior Noah Cathey and senior Jake Bond) and a dominant rebounding performance (junior CJ Ness had eight, sophomore Luke Laczkowski had seven, and junior Ethan Singleton had seven to go along with a team-high five assists) to earn a 79-45 victory.

On Monday, the team celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day together by rolling up their sleeves with some community service work, cleaning out a storage space and building shelves for Ervin Elementary School in Dallas. This week, the team hosts a trio of exciting games - Cistercian on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m., Trinity Christian Academy on Friday at 7:30pm, and Casady on Saturday at 1 p.m.