Lion Sports Update 05/01

Water Polo
The varsity polo team played this Saturday in the North Texas Regional Championship at the LISD Aquatic Center. In the first game, the Lions played Denton HS and won 24-1. In the semi-final game, St. Mark’s matched up with Southlake Carroll HS. Unfortunately for us we could not rise at the level required in such a game. Showing their weakest performance in the last 11 years, we lost the game 3-4 in overtime. This result jeopardized the Lions’ participation at State, and sent them into a due or die game against Rockwall HS. Bouncing back from the loss, the Marksmen won the game 27-3. This win qualified St. Mark’s for the State Tournament for the 18th straight year. The Lions had to play their 4th game of the day in the Consolation Final against Denton Guyer. This was the game between the first and second seed, a true Final. Our boys showed character and played a tremendous game. They earned the Bronze Medal, winning the game 11-6. On Thursday, the polo team travels to Austin to play in the Texas State Championship.

Lacrosse
The varsity lacrosse team played three games last week. The first game at Highland Park started on Tuesday evening, but was postponed due to a lightning storm and resumed on Wednesday evening. This game was going to determine the top team in the THSLL North District East Division. Highland Park was unbeaten in the North District with only one loss in the state of Texas. The teams played about 6 minutes on Tuesday and the Lions were down 0-2 at the time of the delay. On Wednesday night, the Lions battled hard and gave themselves a chance, but eventually fell 4-5. Freshman Ian Mize had 2 goals in the game and seniors Parker Clark and Lyle Ochs each added a goal apiece. Landon Wood had a great game in goal and kept the Lions within striking distance all game. The Lions then competed in the SPC Tournament hosted by ESD on Friday and Saturday. St. John’s (12-2 record from Houston) was the Lions opponent on Friday in the SPC Semifinal. The Lions played well in the second half and pulled away to win 14-5. Senior Connor Cheetham and junior Titus McGowan each had hat tricks (3 goals) and seniors Lyle Ochs (2 goals and 1 assist) and Parker Clark (2 goals) also had multiple goals. The Lion defense played a great game and held St. John’s to half their scoring average on the season. In the SPC Championship game on Saturday, the Lions squared off with ESD on their home turf. The Lions trailed 2-7 at the half and wound up losing 6-14. Cheetham was the only Lion with multiple goals with 2. The Lions end up finishing 2nd in the North District East Division and in the SPC. The THSLL Playoffs begin on Tuesday night as the Lions host Southlake at home at 7:30 pm with the winner moving on the state Super Regionals.

Baseball
Entering the last week of SPC counter play, the varsity baseball team squared off against Casady on Tuesday and Oakridge on Friday. With the threat of thunderstorms lurking to the south, Sophomore Daniel Sanchez pitched a gem, striking out 12 Casady batters while only allowing two hits in five innings of stellar work. After senior DH Jahaziel Lopez got the Lions’ offense going on a sharp single to CF, he was later plated on a sacrifice fly by junior Mason Rareshide. This seemed to be a theme as seniors Daniel Mirochna (2) and Colin Neuhoff (1) collected three more sacrifice-fly RBIs. After five complete innings and the score at 7-0, the game was called due to lightning and rain, giving St. Mark’s the victory. On Friday, Oakridge took an early lead after a dropped fly ball and throwing error cost the Lions two unearned runs. However, the Lions shook these mistakes off and quickly knotted the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Senior hurler Cole Arnett kept St. Mark’s close through five-plus innings of gritty pitching, but Oakridge once again scored two runs to take a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth. However, the never-say-die Lions bats evened the score after clutch at-bats by seniors Connor Pierce and Daniel Mirochna. Junior reliever Mason Rareshide stifled Oakridge in the top of the seventh, and with two outs and two strikes on the batter, senior second baseman Andy Crowe poke-checked a well-placed single to score senior Colin Neuhoff in walk-off fashion in front of a jubilant home crowd. At 5-2 in conference play, St. Mark’s secured the North Zone’s #3 seed and will face Houston Christian at 4:00 this Thursday at Kinkaid in Houston during the opening round of SPC play.

Track & Field
This past Friday and Saturday, the varsity track & field team participated in the 2nd annual Navy-Gold Quad Meet with Greenhill, Hockaday, and ESD. Friday was field events and the 4 x 800 Relay. The Lions came out with some very good marks. Freshman Sam Eleumunoh led the charge with a big discus throw of 133' 4", an improvement of 11'! Not to be outdone, senior John Harbison also threw a PR of 131' as they finished 1-2. Sophomore Mike Mendoza returned to action in the shot put and promptly threw a PR of 39' 10.5". Senior Colton Barber equaled his PR in the pole vault with a jump of 11' 6". On Saturday, the Lions turned to the track and ran extremely well across the board. The 4 x 100 Relay immediately kicked things off with a season best of 43.57. The 800m saw 3 freshmen, Sahil Dodda, Bryce Nivet, and Fisayo Omonije, all run PRs! The 100M saw the re-emergence of junior Anthony Andrews as a force. The return of sophomore Josh Mysore was big. He helped the 4 x 100R, then blistered the 200M in a big PR of 22.84. Anthony also dipped under 23 secs. for the first time with a time of 22.94. The 1600M produced no less than 8 PRs from a bevy of Marksmen. All in all, a very good day for the team! The Lions now prepare for the SPC Championships in Houston this weekend, hosted by Episcopal High School.

Tennis
The varsity tennis team hosted the last set of counter matches and ended the season on a high note by beating both Casady and Oakridge last week.
The opposing doubles lines were no match for the Lions. The duo of seniors Adnan Khan and Matthew Pollock defeated both opponents swiftly and easily scoring 6-1,6-1 against Casady, and 6-0, 6-0 against Oakridge. At line 2 doubles, seniors Samir Ratakonda and Sid Vattamreddy had a slow start, squeezing by 6-4 in the first set, then finding their aggressive game in the second set to win 6-0 against Casady. Freshman Jeremy Yu at line 2 singles didn't even give his opponent a chance and was first to get off the court winning 6-0,6-0. Sophomore Max Palys at line 3 didn't take much longer to finish his match. By serving really well, he went on to win 6-0,6-2. Sophomore Mark Motlow at line 1 had the toughest and steadiest opponent, one he had faced at the SPC Tournament the season before. Mark had another 3-hour endless and exciting battle but fell just short of victory losing 7-6,6-7, 4-10. Final score against Casady: Lions win 4-1. The Lions had a change in line up for the Oakridge match. Jeremy Yu played line 1 and ran his opponent around for the entirety of the match winning 6-0,6-0. Sophomore Max Wu played his second match of the season and exhibited a solid game, dominating the match 6-2,6-0. Samir Ratakonda changed from his usual doubles play to play line 2 singles. He faced a consistent and relentless opponent. He endured a long match, but fell short 2-6,6-4, 3-10. As mentioned above, line 1 doubles Adnan Khan and Matthew Pollock won 6-0,6-0 and scored the first point for the team. At line 2 doubles, the reunited senior duo of Rhys Arana and Creston Brooks had a great start, winning the first set 6-1, then faced a lapse in focus that gave their opponents a chance to get back in the match. Eventually, they found their way back and pulled off a second set win of 7-5. Overall, a great day for the Lions who achieved a 4-1 win and ended the season as the 2nd ranked team in SPC North Zone. This Thursday, the tennis team heads to Houston to compete in the SPC Championships.

Golf
The varsity golf team is competing in the SPC Championships at WoodForest GC in The Woodlands, Texas, on Monday and Tuesday, April 29 and 30. Five golfers will have two 18-hole rounds scored and the team scores determine the final SPC standings.

Alumni Athlete News
Parker Dixon ’16, a member of the Princeton Tigers Men’s Volleyball team, earned AVCA All-American Honorable Mention status for this season. He is only the 5th Tiger to ever earn this award. Parker was also named to the All-EIVA First team, was top ten in his conference in kills (4th), points (4th), kills per set (6th), points per set (6th), and hitting percentage (8th). Parker is also ranked near the top of those statistics nationally as well. The Tigers are currently ranked #13 in the NCAA and will take on the Pepperdine Waves on Tuesday in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
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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.