Lion Sports Update (04/19)

Last Thursday, the varsity lacrosse team ventured to ESD to take on the Eagles. On the home team's senior night, the Lions wasted little time earning their first possession and took advantage of a great opening possession to strike first with a smooth roll-back dodge and lefty bouncer from midfielder Henry Boykin, exhausting only 42 seconds from the play clock. From there, St. Mark’s made it a game of “make it, take it” with senior Alex Geng dominating the face off X, which limited the Eagles to fewer offensive possessions in the game. The Lions defense displayed how tight they truly have become by defending the Eagles first two possessions. Senior net minder James Fults made some terrific doorstop saves to keep the game 1-0. Henry Boykin scored the next goal almost from the same location with another terrific dodge and righty bounce shot to beat the goalie stick side. Senior Ian Mize scored the next goal from the low left wing from outside 15 yards. With little time left on the shot clock, junior Jake Park dodged passed his man from behind the goal to dunk it, to put the Lions up by four. Face-off magician Alex Geng wins the next possession and quickly passes it to the point attackmen Henry Piccagli who buried a shot from outside 11 yards. After some costly mistakes, the Lions ended the first frame up 6-4.

 

The Eagles came on in the second frame charged up and took the lead 7-6 before the Lions regained their swagger when Alex Geng used a pinch and pop face off win and raced forward and buried a shot passed the goalie to even score 7-7. Junior midfielder Luke Stallings ignited the fire with two quick goals, one which was a 16-yard howitzer that beat the goalie off-stick high in the upper right-hand corner of the goal and the other was an unbelievable underhand shot with a player draped on him that beat the goalie stick side high and tucked between the pipe and the upper left-hand corner to put the Marksmen up 9-7 at halftime. The Eagles answered right back keeping it a one-goal game until Henry Boykin open the margin 10-8 with his roll move. The highlighted goal of the night was created by a great defensive stand and de-possession strip from midfielder Jake Bond, who quickly picked up the loose ball and moved it to the sprinting John Charest who recognized an uneven man situation on the offensive zone and delivered a perfect pinpoint “dot” to wide-open attackman Murphy Paul as he cut to the crease for a dunk, putting the Lions up by 3, 11-8. Moments later, Henry Piccagli catches an assist from Henry Boykin and buries a high bouncer to put the margin to four. After another well timed goal by Henry Boykin that pushed the margin to five goals, the Eagles began their assault with a pressure ride (aka full field pressure) that allowed them back in the game closing the margin steadily as the 4^th quarter time rolled off the clock. The Lions got the final stop and held possession as time expired to win the game 13–12! Another solid win for the Lions against a quality opponent as the regular season draws to a close. On Tuesday night, the Lions will face Highland Park in the last regular season game on the THSLL schedule and then travels to Austin on Friday for the SPC Championship Final Four where it is likely that the Lions and Eagles will meet again. 

 

Last Tuesday, the varsity baseball team hosted TACA. Despite the Lions having the bases loaded with less than two outs twice in three innings, the offense’s execution was poor as strikeouts were the main culprit for not scoring. On a bright note, senior LHP Elijah Baker was both outstanding and efficient on the mound, shutting down the TACA bats after throwing only 38 pitches in the contest. A thunderstorm rolled into the area in the top of the fourth inning, leaving the field unplayable and the game deadlocked in a 0-0 tie. This contest will not be made up/completed since it is a non-counter game. On Thursday, St. Mark’s hosted Casady. Junior Silas Hosler surrendered one unearned run over four solid innings of work while the Lions bats came alive. Junior Stice Neuhoff led the offensive attack with two hits and three RBIs while everyone else in the starting lineup had either a hit, walk, or hit-by-pitch. Due to the conference run-rule, the game was stopped after four innings with the Lions ahead 16-1. This week, the Varsity team faces Cistercian in a must-win matchup on Tuesday followed by the final counter game of the year against traditional powerhouse FWCD in Fort Worth.   

 

The varsity tennis team had a clean sweep of Casady on Thursday afternoon at home. Even the 3 exhibition matches all won! Good energy from the whole team and an impressive showing from junior Shreyan Daulat who took care of business at the #2 singles spot! This week, the Lions host Cistercian on Tuesday, play a fun mixed doubles event with Hockaday on Wednesday, and then finish the week with 2 road games at Highland Park (Thursday) and at Ft. Worth Country Day (Friday).

 

It was a weekend that will go down as one of the greatest in St. Mark’s track & field history.  Coach Turek claimed, “It certainly will be at or near the top of my 29 seasons as the Head Coach for the track & field team.” After a shortened season in 2020, an altered season in 2021, and an inconsistent season this year, Saturday’s team/individual performance at the Nick Finnegan Invitational at St. John’s was one “for the record books,” literally. Over the course of two days, relay teams and individuals set four school records! Traveling down to St. John’s to compete against the SPC schools from the south zone gives the SM team a better gauge to see where they stand within the conference. This year was no different. Some of the schools are quite formidable opponents and all will be competing for the SPC title. The team traveled down early Friday morning with field events, 3200m, and 4x800 Relay to be contested that afternoon. The team wasn’t at full strength in the jumps, but had a good showing in the throws. Junior Raja Mehendale started things off on the track with a 2^nd place finish and a new PR in the 3200m. All that was left was the 4 x 800 Relay to end the day. The Lions had run only one 4x800m Relay prior to this race and it was not the “A Team.” Fisayo Omonije led off the relay with a great split of 1:55.7 which gave SM a commanding lead over John Cooper. Raja came back for the relay and ran his fastest split ever (2:02.8), but JC was able to take the lead. Zach Lightfoot took the handoff for the third leg and ran a good split of 2:04.1. He handed off to none other than Sahil Dodda about 10 meters behind the John Cooper School runner. It wasn’t a matter of if, but rather when, Sahil would chase down and pass the JC runner. He inched closer and closer with every step. With 150 meters to go, he stepped on the accelerator and passed the other runner with ease. Sahil finished very strong with a split of 1:54.0, his fastest 800 ever and the team finished in 7:57.01, breaking the old school record that had stood since 2015 by more than three seconds! But…there was more to come the next day!

 

Saturday started off with the 4x100m Relay. It was only the second time these four individual athletes ran together the entire season. Temi Balogun started off, handed to Wirt “Jack” Jackson who passed everyone in the race. He handed off to Elijah Ellis who ran a good curve and then handed off to Zane Wallace who ran a blistering anchor leg to come in first place. Next on the track was the 800m with school record holder, Fisayo Omonije, facing off against very stiff competition from Houston Christian. Fisayo battled the entire race and entered the final straightaway in second place but was closing fast. The last 100m was all Fisayo as he pulled away with a convincing victory. His final time of 1:54.37 broke his own school record and gave the team another reason to celebrate! Next up was Akash Raghunathan who ran the 110m Hurdles and came away with another PR (17.68) and qualified for his first SPC Championships.  Jack led the way in the 100m with a second-place finish while Zane ran a PR (11.37). Next up was the 400m with freshman Mateu Parker coming away with a third-place finish and yet another PR (52.05). In another heat, Bryce Nivet found a new event in the 400m and raced to a huge PR of 53.93. Next up was the 200m where Jack demonstrated his power, speed, and technique to win going away in a PR (21.82). Zane ran in the same heat and came away with this second, also running a PR (22.92). The next event was the most anticipated of the meet. 

 

The 1600m was supposed to be a match-up between two of the top distance runners in the state, SM’s Sahil Dodda and Emmanuel Sgouros of St. John’s. Unfortunately, Emmanuel suffered some blisters on his feet and could not race. That did not deter Sahil in the least. The gun went off and Sahil immediately went to the lead and increased it throughout race. Pushing himself to his very limit, he crossed the line in 4:14.64, breaking his own school record by three seconds! It was an incredible run. Not to be outdone, the 4x400m Relay provided another incredible memory for the team. Finally running with the “A Team” for the first time this season, the Lions put on an incredible performance. Blake Malouf started off with a fine 51.9 second lead-off leg to put the Marksmen right at the front of the pack. He handed off to Enoch Ellis who was running in a meet for the first time since the Texas Relays in March. He ran a great leg of 50.4 to put the Lions way ahead. He handed off to Jack who was running his first 400 since the second meet in early March. He powered around the track all by himself and came home in an incredible 48.9 split. That was the fastest split in Coach Turek’s 29 year tenure at St. Mark’s!  Jackson handed off to Omonije who brought it home with a split of 49.1. Their final time of 3:20.56 broke the 33-year-old school record set in 1989! One meet, two days, four School Records! It was an historic day for SM Track & Field to say the least. The team will now look to rest, recover, and fine tune some things at the SPC North Zone meet at Greenhill this Friday and then get ready to defend the SPC title on April 29-30 hosted by Awty International School in Houston.

 

The varsity golf team competed in a tournament at Coyote Ridge Golf Club on April 12 and for the fourth time in their last five outings, the Lions hoisted the hardware! Senior Anashay Monga finished 3^rd in individual scoring with a 75 to lead the championship fivesome that also featured fellow veterans George Warren and Tommy Zheng, along with underclassmen Henry Hoak and Mateo Ubinas. Sophomore Hudson Brown had a breakout performance for SM’s second group, firing a 78 (which earned him a medal as one of the top overall individual scorers in the field). This week, the Marksmen will compete in a senior night event with Hockaday on Thursday at Brookhaven starting at 4:30 pm before gearing up for qualifying rounds leading into the SPC tournament that will be held at Pecan Valley in Ft. Worth on April 25-26.

 

Men’s Water Polo had two games this weekend taking care of both Flower Mound Marcus and Dallas Jesuit. Up first was Marcus. A back and forth game from the start saw the Lions coming out on top 15-13. Junior Michael Gao had the game winner with a double bar in from the 1 position, and freshman Jaden Ouyang hit the dagger putting the Lions up 2 with 5 seconds remaining in the game. Up next was Dallas Jesuit and it was all St. Mark’s from start to finish, winning the game 17-4. With these two wins, the Lions have secured the #1 seed for this week’s Regional Championships, the top 4 teams from Regionals will then qualify for the TISCA State Championship on May 6 & 7 in Houston.  

 

Sam Clayman ’17, a member of the Princeton University Men’s Golf team, shot a -2 under par (69-70-72) in the three-round Princeton Invitational and came in 4^th overall. The Tigers entered 2 teams in the tournament, finishing 1^st and 2^nd, and it was the first time that Princeton had won the team title at the Princeton Invitational in 18 years.