Lion Sports Update 01/24

The varsity wrestling team wrestled at the Prep State Dual Tournament hosted by Bishop Lynch High School on Saturday, January 20. This tournament had the best SPC and TAPPs wrestling teams in the State of Texas. The Lions placed 8th as a team out of 12 Wrestling Teams. A team highlight was besting Oklahoma Casady 43 to 42 in tiebreaker criteria. This means that at the end of the match, the teams were tied 42 to 42; therefore, the referee reviewed the tiebreaker criteria. Still tied in all facets until it came to Criteria H: first take down per match, i.e. aggression points. Upon referee tally of first take downs, the Lions won the criteria handily and were awarded the bonus point to win 42 to 43, placing us in the 5th through 8th place pool. Senior and Captain Tucker Ribman (138lbs) continued his undefeated run in Texas. The Lions will compete in the 2nd Annual Bowie Invitational at Bowie High School in Arlington this Friday and Saturday, January 26-27.

 

The varsity soccer team hosted Greenhill for first place in the SPC North Zone on Friday night. The Lions executed their game plan to near perfection; however, with minutes remaining in the match, an opportunistic Greenhill side converted a St. Mark’s defensive miscue into the only goal of the match. The goal ended the Lions’ consecutive shutout streak in counter play at just over 230 minutes. The Lions were not without scoring opportunities, but good defense from Greenhill, a bit of misfortune, and a lack of quality on the final touch in front of goal kept St. Mark’s from scoring. While the match sometimes lacked aesthetics, it was nevertheless very exciting and quite spirited. In the final two minutes, after a Greenhill defender had been sent off, the Lions missed two great chances to equalize after the Hornet keeper had been beat. Standout play from sophomore William Holtby in defense and freshman Kit Colson and junior Mateo Guevara on offense highlighted a superb team effort. While the outcome was a disappointment, the Lions have very little time for reflection. St. Mark’s travels to Trinity Valley on Tuesday and to Casady on Friday, needing six points to secure a birth in the SPC tournament and remain in contention for a first-round bye.

 

The varsity swim team won both meets last week, edging Highland Park 98 to 91 and defeating Greenhill 105.5 to 63.5  In the Highland Park meet, the Lion 4 X 100 Free Relay-A (Robert Newman ’19, David Li ’20, Edward Ro ’18, and Benjamin Hurst ’18) placed first and our B Relay (Ethan Pittson ’18, Chase Honaker ’19, Sean Zhao ’20, and Richard Shen ’19) placed second, both beating the Highland Park Relay-A. Individually, Robert Newman won the 200 Free and Benjamin Hurst won the 100 Free. In the Greenhill meet, the Lions placed 1 through 6 in the Medley Relay and went 1 through 9 in the 200 Free Relay Individually, Ryan Park ’21 won the 200 Free, Benjamin Hurst won the 50 Free & 500 Free, Alan Jiang won the 100 Fly, David Li won the 100 Back, and Sean Zhao won the 100 Breast. This Thursday, the Lions host Cistercian at 5:45 p.m. 

 

The varsity basketball team hosted two very competitive contests during the last week. On Tuesday, the CHANT Chargers weathered an early St. Mark's attack that trimmed the Lions’ double-digit lead to 5 heading into halftime. Then, despite most of sophomore Andrew Laczkowski's game-high 24 points coming in the first three quarters, the Lions found themselves trailing early in the fourth quarter. Thanks to some clutch free throw shooting and senior Reece Rabin's 10 point, 4 assist performance, the Marksmen clawed their way to a gritty 2-point win, 58-56. On Friday, the gym was packed as two undefeated teams atop the SPC North Zone standings squared off. St. Mark's had defeated Greenhill earlier in the season en route to a championship crown at the historic Fantasy of Lights tournament in Wichita Falls. The Lions picked up where they left off by building a fast double-digit lead. However, the visitors put together a run that narrowed the margin heading into the break. The Lions erupted offensively for nearly 40 points in the second half, but Greenhill capitalized on several costly turnovers and defensive miscues, while sinking 12 of their final 14 free throws to defeat the Marksmen 72-66. This week, the Lions hit the road for a 7:30 pm. .game at Trinity Valley on Tuesday night and a 7:00 p.m. tilt in Oklahoma City on Friday at Casady.