Lions Sports Update (2/4)

WRESTLING
On Wednesday, January 29, the Lions hosted the Episcopal School of Dallas on Senior Night. The four seniors recognized were the two co-captains, Wyatt Loehr and Teddy Fleiss, as well as Henry Roden and Roman Childress. At the end of the dual match, the two teams were tied 35 to 35, but SM lost due to criteria. “Criteria” is a tiebreaker that gives a bonus point to the team with more pins in the dual.  ESD had more pins than SM did, which provided them with a bonus point for the dual. St. Mark’s 35 vs ESD 35 (+1 bonus point). This Saturday, February 8, the Lion wrestlers host the Texas Prep State Wrestling tournament in Spencer Gymnasium starting at 8:30 am. Come out and support your Lions!

SOCCER

St. Mark’s varsity soccer got back on track last week with a pair of wins and a tough draw away from home. On Tuesday, the Lions efficiently handled The Oakridge school in a 4-0 victory. Minutes into the match, David Dickson wrote the first line on the score sheet after collecting a through ball from Mateen Mostafavipour, beating a defender, and slotting the ball home in the back of the net. Soon after, senior captain Alden Reagins added his name to the sheet when he stole a pass in the opposing third and slammed home a shot from the edge of the penalty box. After the break, senior captain Aydin Sumer beat his man to the byline and put the ball across the goal mouth, where sophomore Cristian Duarte was able to sweep it in past the keeper. Sumer also assisted the final goal, slipping a beautifully weighted pass behind the defense so Dickson could hit the side-netting. Senior Adithya Munshi recorded the shut-out for the Lions in net, with senior captain Alex Abel marshaling the defense. 

Friday found the Lions down in Austin facing St. Andrew’s Episcopal School for a key counter match. Again, sophomore David Dickson opened the scoring, beating his man after collecting a through ball from junior center-back Alex Dahlander in the 12th minute. Senior captain Aydin Sumer added the insurance goal ten minutes later with a bit of individual brilliance, dribbling past several SAS defenders to slot the ball past the goalkeeper. However, two goals is never a safe lead, and the Highlanders struck back just before the break in a 1-2 combination that stunned the Lion’s back line. David Dickson restored the lead to two goals, though, tapping in a ball that Sumer sent fizzing across the box. It looked like the Lions were headed for a comfortable resolution, but St. Andrews found a way back in it with a cross to the back post that their winger nodded in with only two minutes in regulation. The Highlanders threw everything they had into the task. Nevertheless, the Lions’ defense was equal to it. The last gasp came with a free-kick on top of the Lions’ box which senior goalkeeper Adithya Munshi parried over the bar, and the match ended in a 3-2 victory.

A weary group of Lions took the field in Austin on Saturday afternoon against one of the tougher opponents on their schedule. They faced a fresh St. Stephen’s Spartan squad who had not played the previous night. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Spartans caught the Lions off guard with a goal in the second minute of the match off of a corner kick, followed by a rebound and put-back in the tenth minute. Finding themselves down 2-0 early, the Lions had no choice but to press the attack. Waves of substitutes came off the bench to pressure the Spartan back line, which held firm for most of the half. However, senior captains Aydin Sumer and Alden Reagins and junior midfielder Kazim Hussain were able to repeatedly force mistakes in the Spartan midfield. Eventually, Sumer was able to capitalize, driving into the opposing penalty box, where he was cut down in a clumsy tackle. Sumer struck home the ensuing kick, making the score 2-1 going into the break. The second half was a brutal back-and-forth affair, with the Lions refusing to give up despite their flagging energy. In the 63rd minute, sophomore Henry McGill won a corner kick for the Lions. Freshman midfielder J. P. Hanks stepped up to take it, serving a perfect in-swinger to the back post, which junior midfielder Christian Denis volleyed in for the equalizer. The furious Spartans tried desperately to regain the lead but could not. They nearly conceded themselves when Sumer hit a free-kick off the crossbar with only minutes to play. However, neither team could find a winner, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. This week, the soccer team travels to ESD on Tuesday night and then hosts Bishop Lynch for Senior Night on Thursday at 7:30 pm.

BASKETBALL

Last week, the St Mark’s varsity basketball team competed in three SPC counter contests. First, on Tuesday, January 28, the Lions defeated Oakridge in the second game ever played in the new Hicks Gymnasium in the Zierk Athletic Center. Senior Matthew Jordan helped set an aggressive tone with a team-high seven rebounds. Additionally, junior Pranav Danda turned in one of his strongest performances of the season, leading the team in steals and plus/minus while contributing a very efficient 11 points. Speaking of points, senior Luke Laczkowski posted 18 to break the school’s all-time scoring record. Luke’s older brother, Andrew, who had held the record with 2,059 points, was on hand to “crown” his little brother as the new king of “Marksmanship.” What a special moment! Later in the week, SM would take to the road for a Friday-Saturday Austin swing against St. Andrew’s and then St. Stephen’s. The long bus ride seemed to contribute to a slow start for the Lions, who struggled from the perimeter on 9-43 shooting from beyond the arc in Friday’s contest. However, sophomore Dawson Battie was 4-7 from deep, leading all scorers with 17. Junior Spencer Hopkin took care of the ball, knocked down a pair of first-half threes, and penetrated the opponents’ 2-3 zone with ease to help set up sharpshooters like Shyam Maddukuri as the Lions relied on their stingy defense late in the game to earn a resilient come-from-behind 46-40 victory. The following afternoon, every single Marksman got in on the scoring party. Sophomore Asher Collins’ 14 points included a rim-rocking alley-oop dunk during a 30-point third-quarter barrage that was capped off by Cooper Guiler’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Senior Lawrence Gardner was electric throughout, and sophomore AJ Thomas’s defensive energy ensured that the boys in navy and gold would cruise to the finish line of a 3-0 week. This week, the squad hopes to finish SPC North Zone play undefeated with a win on February 4 at ESD (6:30 pm tip-off). The Lions will then round out their regular-season schedule with a formidable opponent, TACA, at 6:00 pm Thursday and the ever-special senior night against HSAA on Friday at 7:30 pm.

SWIMMING

The varsity swim team was at home for the first time in the new Levering Pool in the Zierk Athletic Center, taking on SPC 4A rival St. Stephens’s, and it was a great meet. A minimum of 22 pool records were created in a new pool that is very fast!  The Lion’s depth would be the deciding factor in the victory as this meet was a sneak peek at the upcoming SPC Championships. It was also Senior Night, as the team said, fare well to six Marksmen who have all played a huge role in this team’s success. These seniors were a part of two SPC Champion Teams (2023 & 2024) and are looking to make 2025 their third. A huge thank you goes out to each senior who worked very hard over their careers. They are Captain Reagan Brower, Benjamin Chen, Captain George Hoverman, Captain Sebastian Illum, Jaden Ouyang, and Leo Scheiner. In the meet, juniors Oliver Geheb and Kevin Ho would go 1,2 in the 200 IM, posting season bests or near season bests. Junior Richard Wang, sophomore Armaan Newaskar, and junior Michael Yang would go 1,2,3 in the 100 Butterfly. Senior Leo Scheiner would bring home the top spot in the 100 Freestyle with a personal best, while fellow senior Benjamin Chen would secure the 3rd place with a season-best time for him. It was again 1,2,3 for the Lions in the 100 Breaststroke as sophomore Judah Isaacs-Sodeye would secure the top spot with a season-best; Geheb and Ho were right there to bring in 2nd and 3rd place, respectively. In the final relay of the night, the Lions would place second, with the A relay being made entirely of seniors (Sebastian Illum, Leo Scheiner, Reagan Brower, and Benjamin Chen) in the final home swim of their careers. The Lions would defeat St. Stephen’s 96 to 71. The team now prepares for the SPC Championships, which will be held on February 13 & 14 in Keller. 

ALUMNI ATHLETE NEWS
Ethan Singleton ’24, a member of the men’s Track & Field team at Wesleyan University (CT), broke a 24-year-old school record for the Cardinals in the 400m as he won the UMass Boston Beacon Season Opener on December 8 with a time of 49.44. Just the day before, at the Wesleyan Indoor Invitational, Ethan had won the 60m dash in that meet.