Lion Sports Update 01/15

Swimming
The varsity swim team competed at Southlake Carroll this past Thursday. The Southlake Dragons have won 9 UIL State Championships in a row, so this was a tough competition. The Lions sent 40 swimmers to the meet, and nine of them were able to finish in the top three of their events. The team had its best result ever against the strong Southlake team, coming to within 20 points. Final score: SM 212 – SL 232.

Top finishers were:
  • Ryan Park: 1st in 200 IM; 1ST in 500 Free
  • Leo Ohannessian: 1st in 50 Free
  • Brett Honaker: 1st in 100 Free
  • David Li: 2nd in 200 Free; 2ND IN 100 Free
  • Daniel Wu: 2nd in the 200 IM
  • Lee Schlosser: 3rd in 200 IM
  • Odran Fitzgerald: 2nd in 50 Free; 3RD IN 100 Free
  • Jack Palmer: 2nd in 100 Breast
  • Sean Zhao: 3rd in 100 Breast
Soccer
Returning from holiday, the varsity soccer team traveled to perennial TAPPS mainstay, Trinity Christian Academy. The Lions looked strong from the kickoff but were stymied in the final third by a resilient Trojan defense. Early in the second half, junior Knobel Hunt was fouled in the TCA penalty area. Senior William Holtby converted the subsequent penalty kick to give the Lions the lead. TCA increased its intensity in search of an equalizer and was rewarded midway through the second half. Five minutes from the final whistle, the Lions produced the winner when junior Eric Yoo split the Trojan defense with a deftly weighted through ball that found the feet of Holtby, who coolly placed the ball beyond the reach of the TCA goalkeeper to seal the 2-1 victory for the Lions. The second night of a back-to-back had St. Mark’s hosting a Parish Episcopal team that had riddled with injuries. The Panthers could provide little resistance, and the Lions looked sharp from the very beginning of the match, leading to an uncharacteristically lopsided result, 9-0. Junior Knobel Hunt started the scoring in the second minute with an assist from junior Henry McElhaney. Freshman Nat Fisher recorded his first assist on the varsity when he set up junior Eric Yoo in the ninth minute. Yoo then assisted senior William Holtby, and the Lions had a three-goal lead in the first quarter-hour. Junior Henry McElhaney recorded a goal and an assist within a five-minute span, ably setting up senior Colin Campbell and then scoring from Holtby’s pass. Senior Romil Mathur added an unassisted goal, and junior Luis Garcia scored on an assist from junior Cristian Pereira on the stroke of halftime. The combination of Garcia and Pereira struck again midway through the second half before senior Billy Lockhart closed the scoring late in the match on an unassisted goal. Storms in the Metroplex mandated that the first SPC North Zone Counter match of the season against Ft. Worth Country Day be rescheduled from January 10 to February 1. St. Mark’s will travel to Trinity Valley on Friday evening to kickoff the counter season.

Wrestling
On January 11, the varsity wrestling team competed in the Dallas Independent School District Wrestling Open at Hillcrest High School. As the only independent school in the tournament, the challenge was tough. Also, missing three Varsity Wrestlers due to injury, debate, and a math competition made the task even tougher. With some grit and determination, the Lions finished the tournament in fifth place as a team. This was our first top-five finish since Coach Arredondo’s arrival to the wrestling team. Three wrestlers entered in the Junior Varsity tournament, and all three did us proud. Junior Reid Fundiswon his weight class, and Stice Neuhoff took third place. Newcomer and freshman Will Spencer won his first match of the season, but fell one victory from placing. In the Varsity tournament, the Lions had seven of the fourteen weight classes represented, and six of seven wrestlers placed in the top four of their brackets. Junior and co-captain Jackson Fair and sophomore Elijah Ellis captured the Championship titles, while freshman Hayward Metcalf, sophomore Jedidiah Kim, and junior Mike Mendoza came home with third place medals. Sophomore Enoch Ellis rounded out the place winners with his fourth-place finish. This Saturday, January 18, St. Mark’s will wrestle in the Prep State Duals at Bishop Lynch High School.

Basketball
The varsity basketball team played a pair of non-conference games last week. On Tuesday, the squad competed at Faith Family Academy in South Dallas. The defending UIL 4A state champs started the game with a high-flying alley-oop dunk that excited a big crowd on-hand for their "Teddy Bear Toss," a fundraiser donating stuffed animals to Scottish Rite. That was the first of a handful of highlights that made for an exciting first half. A number of Faith Family players have scholarship offers from a variety of high-ranking college programs, but St. Mark's talented trio of sophomore Colin Smith, junior Harrison Ingram, and senior Andrew Laczkowski each recorded over 20 points to propel the Lions to a convincing 81-59 victory. On Saturday, St. Mark's took to the road once again for a game at Lovejoy. Another boisterous crowd showed up, and the Lions saw a slim halftime lead turn into a 1-point deficit midway through the third quarter. However, the boys in navy and gold strung together several consecutive scores that were capped by Harrison Ingram's half-court buzzer-beater to forge a 9-point lead heading into the final frame. In the end, St. Mark's won the game 67-61. Sophomore Tate Laczkowski had one of the stronger games of his young career (13 points), thanks in part to 3 of 4 shooting from behind the arc. This week, the Lions play at Trinity Christian in Cedar Hill on Tuesday night before commencing conference play at Trinity Valley Friday evening.
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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.