Lions Prepare for Spring SPC

This Thursday through Saturday are the SPC Championships for the spring season. The Lions are competing in baseball (at ESD, St. Mark’s, and potentially the University of Dallas), tennis (at Greenhill), and track and field (at St. Mark’s).  You can see brackets and results at www.spcsports.org (under the “Tournaments & Brackets” tab) or follow the teams on their respective twitter feeds (@SMTXbaseball, @SMTXtennis, @SMTXcctrack).  The water polo team is competing in the Private School State Tournament at the Southlake – Carroll Aquatic Center as well (@SMTXwaterpolo).
 
Water Polo
The varsity water polo team entered the North Region Championship Tournament on Friday as the 3rd seed. The Lions played Keller HS in the 1st round and won 19 to 1, qualifying for the Semi-Final against the 2nd seeded Southlake Carroll HS. The team started well, but slowly allowed Carrol to close in, tie the game, and then lead by 2 goals. With a great team effort in the 4th period, the Lions came back and won the game 9 to 8. In the Championship Game, the Lions faced Flower Mound HS who was seeded #1 in the North Region. Starting with energy and purpose, our guys took control of the game by the middle of the first period. It was a hard fought game but our boys would not accept defeat. In the end the, Lions won 9 to 7 and defended their streak of 15 titles, winning their 16th in a row. Andrew Lin ’17 was named to the 1st Team All-Region; Easton Honaker ’17 and Wesley Hibbs ’17 were 2nd Team All-Region; and Christian McClain ’17 was Honorable Mention All-Region.  The Lions will move on to play in the Private Schools State Tournament this weekend at the Carroll Aquatics Center.  Then the following weekend, the Lions will play in the Texas State Championships at the Westside Aquatics Center in Lewisville.
The Middle School Team also won the Regional/Metroplex Championship on Sunday. They are currently undefeated on the season.
 
Golf
The varsity golf team competed in the SPC Championship Golf Tournament on Monday and Tuesday, April 24-25.  Seniors Sam Clayman, Devan Prabhakar, and Nick Chaiken, along with sophomore Rett Daugbjerg and freshman Randall Fojtasek represented the Lions. On Day 1, the Lions’ top four golfers shot 308 and were in 3rd place, nine strokes back of 1st, going into the second round on Tuesday. In dry but windy conditions, the Lions golfers did their best to close the gap, almost matching their score on Day 1 with a 309. Unfortunately, Kinkaid (299, 296) and John Cooper School (302, 300) shot better to keep the Lions firmly in third place. Sam Clayman was under-par for the tournament, shooting 70 and 71 which was third overall and earned him All-SPC status for the 3rd straight year. Rett Daugbjerg also earned All-SPC with his 7th place individual finish (74, 77). 
 
Crew
The varsity lions crew competed last weekend in the Texas Rowing Championship in Austin. Several crews made it to the finals and two boats medaled. The Novice  4X of freshmen Billy Lockhart, Kathan Ramnath, Jack Trahan, and Christian Duessel qualified for finals as did Lightweight 2X of Aiden Blinn ’17 and Eduardo Ludwig-Bernardo ’18, JV 2X of James Hancock ’17 and Parker Kirby ’17, and the Varsity 4X with August Graue ’17, Riley Sanders ’18, Eduardo Ludwig-Bernardo, and Aiden Blinn. The JV 2X came in 2nd and the Lightweight 2x came in 3rd. We are proud of all the boat who competed and look forward to the next challenge: the Central District Youth Championship in Oklahoma City May 6-7. 
 
Baseball
The varsity baseball team took on Greenhill last Tuesday in a crucial counter contest. Rising to the occasion, the Lion defense was backed by a dominating, 7-inning shut-out performance by junior Reece Rabin. Additionally, only one batter was walked while St. Mark’s played error-free baseball on the day. Senior Todd Murphy smashed a triple to lead off the game, which led to the first of many runs. Senior Grant Brooks collected two hits on the afternoon, as St. Mark’s cruised to an 8-0 victory. On Friday, the Lions hosted Oakridge. Trying to play catch up the whole game, the Lions bats were, unfortunately, largely stifled. However, junior Zach Landry drove in St. Mark’s only run. Walks, errors, and the opponent’s timely hitting, three key factors which have occasionally plagued the Varsity baseball team this season, opened the door to Oakridge’s scoring as the Lions fell, 1-7. St. Mark’s enters SPC tournament play this week as the North Zone’s #6 seed, and will square off against St. John’s on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. at ESD. 
 
Lacrosse
The Varsity Lacrosse team took on the best of the conference in the SPC Tournament on Friday and Saturday of last week. The Lions beat Houston Christian in quarterfinals by a score of 13-2.  Every player got on the field and played a factor in a solid team victory. In the semifinals, the Lions fell behind 1-5 to a strong and really athletic Kinkaid team. The Lions settled down and ran off 9 straight goals to take a 10-5 lead into half time.  Kinkaid tried to counter with a run of their own, but the Lions held on to win 14-11. In the SPC Championship game, ESD jumped out to 3-0 lead. The Lions clawed back into the game, only trailing 6-7 at the half. The Lions showed resiliency and kept it close at the end of the 3rd, down 7-9.  ESD got 2 big goals to go ahead 11-7 early in the 4th quarter. Late in the game, the Lions made a last ditch effort and pulled the goalie to double the ball and try to close the gap, but ESD scored 2 empty netters. It was a good effort by the Lions, finishing 2nd in the SPC. They face Highland Park on the road this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in their last regular season game. This game has seeding implications for the THSLL State Tournament which starts in May. 
 
Tennis
The varsity tennis team had a tough week of SPC counter games. On Tuesday, the Lions faced Greenhill to settle the #1 seed debate as both teams were undefeated going into the match. The Line 1 doubles team of seniors Frank Thomas and Gopal Raman won a clutch first set in a tiebreaker 7-3, but quickly lost the following two sets 0-6, 1-6. Harris Wilson ’18 at line 1 singles, Adnan Khan ’19 at line 2 singles, and Davis Bailey ’18 at line 3 singles all lost in 2 sets. However, line 2 doubles pulled out an impressive 3rd set win against the Hornets to make the overall match score 1-4. On Friday, the Lions hosted Oakridge. Missing key doubles player Gopal Raman, the Lions’ lineup had to be shifted. Both doubles teams of Frank Thomas and Adnan Khan at line 1 and Matthew Pollock ’19 and Kobe Roseman ’18 at line 2 quickly defeated Oakridge, putting the Lions up 2-0. But the Oakridge singles players came to play and took down line 3 Jack Parolisi, then line 1 Harris Wilson, and then in a tight second set, Davis Bailey at line 2 singles. Despite the though week, the Lions remain the #2 seed in the North Zone going into the SPC Tournament hosted by Greenhill starting the Friday.  The Lions have a 1st round bye and will face the winner of the Trinity Valley/Kinkaid match which will be played on Thursday afternoon. 
 
Track & Field
The varsity track team held their annual intrasquad meet in preparation for the SPC Championship Meet which St. Mark’s is hosting this Friday and Saturday. Field Events start at 9:00 a.m. and running events begin at 2:30 p.m. each day. 
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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.