Lions Sports Update (05/08)
GOLF
Last week, the SPC golf tournament was held at Golf Club of Houston on April 30th and May 1st. The combination of travel, hotel stays and competing on a course altogether foreign to the Lions provided a number of excuses the team could have made, but the relatively young group seemed altogether unphased in their resilience leading up to and throughout the event. The team prepared faithfully by finishing Monday’s classes and quickly departing SM for a non-stop 3.5-hour jaunt to maximize daylight and scout each of the course’s unique and challenging 18 holes. After sharing notes around a good meal together, seniors Hudson Brown, Charlie Hill and Henry Hoak, along with sophomore Duff McKay and freshmen James Hoak and Sam Merryman went straight to sleep and arrived back at the course before dawn. Thankfully, concerns of rain dissipated, and the sporadic clouds made for a slightly cooler first day. The course was in great shape heading into a LIV tournament that will be hosted at the site in June, so everyone was excited to take advantage of the terrific opportunity. Unfortunately, the Lions struggled out of the gate. Nearly every player bogeyed the first hole, and the Marksmen found themselves trailing 8-time defending champion, Kinkaid, by more than 10 strokes almost immediately. Toward the end of the front nine, though, St. Mark’s got hot, stringing together a phenomenal stretch that vaulted them into first place. A birdie followed by a chip-in par sparked Hudson Brown’s effort, and Sam Merryman showed extraordinary poise by playing his final 15 holes at even par. Kinkaid made a run of their own that regained the lead by 5 strokes at the end of day 1, but the Lions at least put themselves in a position to turn their back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2022 and 2023 into a 2024 championship.
The next morning, SM looked determined to take the field by storm. Merryman notched an early birdie, and Duff McKay looked inspired following a tournament-best 72 on day 1 that included one of the greatest shots ever made at SPC – a full swing wedge from 10 yards off the 16th green to send a ball buried in thick mud from next to a grandstand over a bunker and right next to the cup for a par tap-in. It was truly sensational! When a few inevitable setbacks (pin locations were tougher, temperatures were warmer, etc.) caused the Lions to stumble, the Hoak brothers showed their grit by buoying the scoring later in the round (a highlight of the tournament was the look on the face of James Hoak, when he learned that older his brother, Henry, had surpassed him on the leaderboard – the competitive juices really kicked in, and James put together a couple of birdies almost immediately!). Charlie Hill’s leadership was on full display as a calming force for teammates navigating the highs and lows of a typical round, and it was imperative because day 2 was altogether unkind to the Lions. Perhaps the most telling evidence of that reality was Duff McKay notching back-to-back-to-back birdies to distance himself from the rest of the leaderboard on the final 9 holes, but then watching two beautiful drives down the middle of the fairway settle into divots that led to bogies, ultimately forcing him to settle for second overall and the team third. What a tough way to finish the tournament! Nonetheless, the Lions overcame disappointment with the utmost sportsmanship. James Hoak finished just one stroke away from medaling as a top scorer, and Duff McKay finished as the tournament runner-up – both extraordinary achievements for underclassmen in a field rich with elderly talent! The future is bright for St. Mark’s golf, but the record 36-man roster will be forced to say goodbye to six marvelous seniors. Captains Charlie Hill, Henry Hoak and Hudson Brown will graduate alongside Jordan Feldman, Zach Olyan and Harry Wang. Congrats to the entire team on a fantastic season!!
BASEBALL
Coming off a great win against fellow North Zone 4A rival Greenhill, the varsity baseball team matched up against Houston powerhouse St. John’s in the first round of the SPC tournament. Due to rainy conditions, all games were played at Parish Episcopal and Bishop Lynch, two local all-turf fields. St. Mark’s ace Deven Pietrzak was brilliant through four innings, completely shutting down the potent St. John’s offense. Additionally, the defense was flawless on the turf during the pitchers’ duel as well. The Maverick’s left-hander was also up to the challenge, striking out 13 Lions’ hitters through six innings of stellar work. Jack Frary and John Stephen Hohmann both singled, which were the only hits collected by the offense on a very tough day at the plate for St. Mark’s. Down five runs in the top of the 7th, the Lions tried to rally until St. John’s closer struck out three batters in a row to end the game and the varsity team’s season.
LACROSSE
The varsity lacrosse team entered the THSLL playoffs this week as the #9 seed in the “A” division bracket. The Lions took on #8 seed Memorial High School on Saturday, May 4th in the first round and emerged victorious with a 7-6 win, playing perhaps their best game of the season. The following day the team would battle #1 seed St. John’s, and despite a valiant effort and 5-4 lead entering the 4thquarter, the Lions would fall 6-5, ending the season. The team played their best lacrosse of the season in the last two games, battled hard against quality opponents, and represented St. Mark’s well.
TENNIS
The varsity tennis team finished 6th place overall in the 4A division of the SPC championships. A hard-fought battle against St. Stephen’s (the eventual champions) in the first round took the Lions out of competition for the finals, but the team followed it up with a decisive win over EHS on Friday. On Saturday, the boys played well against John Cooper, but ultimately lost 2-3. Both points were won by sophomores—Aryaman Lahoti and Nathaniel Hochman—and St. Mark’s nearly had the win with a 3rd set nailbiter by sophomore doubles team Kian Foshee and Tejas Allada. The sophomores stepped up to carry the team this weekend, so the team will be looking forward to big things from them next year!
CREW
St. Mark’s rowers finished their regular season in Oklahoma City on May 3rd-5th at the Central District Youth Championships. This event is the regional qualifier event for USRowing’s Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida. Spring weather threatened again, but good planning and contingency plans were in place to allow all races to be completed. The time trials started on Friday and continued Saturday Morning. Midmorning brought thunder and lightning which stopped racing dead in its tracks. Although delayed, the racing resumed after several hours. By Sunday morning at 11 a.m. all the finals had been successfully run. The men’s 2x time trial saw Marksmen finish in 3rd and 4th place behind Texas Rowing Center and the Episcopal School of Dallas. In the final, Ian McGowan and Elijah Kraus finished 3rd with the boat of Hewes Lance and Linyang Lee finishing 5th. The varsity 4x of McGowan, Kraus, Lance and Lee closed the 22-second gap from a dominant Texas Rowing Center in the time trial to half that to come in 2nd place pushing out ESD. The 2nd Varsity 4x’s of Zack Goforth, Kevon Mostafavipour, Eric Yi and Preston Ghafar came in 4thand Whit Edwards, Jack Tholking, Adam Dalrymple and Nate Wilson finished 6th in their final. In the U17 4x final, Andrew Hofmann, J.B. McKinney, Ben Standefer and Walker Stevens finished in 3rdplace for the bronze medal. In the Novice 4x event, Azim Moosa, Ilan Gunawardena, Shiv Bhandari and Harlan Smith finished 4th. The final event of the weekend was the novice 2x. Andrew Hofmann and Walker Stevens dominated the field and finished in 1st place for the gold medal. The 2x crewed with Jack Shepro and Wyatt Auer finished 4th, Noah Saenz and Mateen Mostafavipour finished 5th and Kiran Parikh and Harlan Smith finished 6th. St. Mark’s varsity 4x has already begun training to compete in the Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida on June 5-9.
TRACK & FIELD
The SPC track & field meet was a rollercoaster ride for the team and the coaching staff. On Friday, the day consisted of all the field events, the 3200m run, and the 4x800m relay. Some highlights included Bobby Strauss finishing third in the discus, earning ALL-SPC and scoring 6 points for the Lions, the 4x800 relay team of Noah Roby, Clark Cooper, Parker Steinbruec and Raja Mehendale finishing fourth and earning the team 10 points. Ace Wilburn finished 7th in the pole vault, Mateu Parker finished 7th in the long jump, Baker Long finished 7th in the triple jump, and William Morrow finished 8th in the discus, all earning points for the Lions on day one. St. Mark’s stood in 5th place at the end of the day. Everybody was a little disappointed, but Saturday would be a new day, a day to change the team’s trajectory.
What transpired on Saturday was amazing! The meet started off with 4x100 relay. The Lions were seeded 4th going into the race. When it was over, St. Mark’s had finished 3rd and run 42.36, the #3 best time in school history! This set the mindset of the team in a new trajectory. The next event was the 800m. All three SM runners were in heat #1. They proceeded to finish 3-4-5 in that race with Raja, Parker and Noah all recording personal records (PRs). The next event was the 110m Hurdles. Mateu Parker finished 6th, his first hurdle race in 4 weeks and AJ Thomas ran a PR and finished 8th. The next event was the 100m. Temi Balogun and Ethan Singleton were in the fastest heat. They both got out fast and continued to accelerate the entire race. Temi finished 2nd in 10.76, a new PR, and Ethan finished 5th in 10.99, also a PR. More team points. The trajectory continued to rise. The next event was the 400m. Tripp Schoellkopf and Julian Gerstle were in the second fastest heat and raced well. Julian came away with a PR of 52.37. The last heat pitted Ethan Singleton against the top runner from Houston Christian, the prohibitive favorite. Ethan finally ran the race as it was supposed to be run and came off the final curve in 2nd place. He held that position all the way to the finish. Coach Turek could not believe the time when they announced it, 48.49! A new school record! A record that stood for 35 years!
The next race was the 300m hurdles. Mateu, running on fumes because of his other events, finished a respectable 5th and AJ ran another PR and finished 8th. The next event was the 200m and Temi had drawn the 2nd fastest heat. When the gun went off, he shot out of his blocks like a bullet. He made up the stagger and passed all the other runners as they came off the turn. He extended his lead and finished way ahead of the pack. His time of 21.97 was another PR and held up as the #3 time overall, garnering him another ALL-SPC award. The next event was the 1600m with Clark Cooper and Parker Steinbrueck in the first heat. Cooper ran one of the best races of his life and finished 1st in a new PR. Parker finished right behind him and, you guessed it, another PR. More team points. The last event was the 4x400m relay. We were seeded 4th going into the race with an entry time of 3:31.10. It is worth mentioning that time because what this relay team did in the final race was nothing short of greatness. Tripp started off with a fine 52.0 leg. Mateu found another gear and handed off in 50.6. Julian raced around the track in very fine 52.6. Ethan then got the baton and ran like never before. Coming off the final turn, he battled John Cooper stride for stride and just getting edged out at the finish by 8/100th of a second. His split was an amazing 48.5! Total time for the quartet was 3:23.98. They dropped 7 seconds from their season best and finished with the #5 time in school history! An amazing second day of competition and an amazing change in trajectory for these boys. The team finished 5th overall.
ALUMNI ATHLETE UPDATE
Logan Johnson ’23, a freshman on the Sewanee Men’s golf team, was named second team all-conference for the Tigers. He posted a 74.78 scoring average in 19 rounds this season.
Back
Last week, the SPC golf tournament was held at Golf Club of Houston on April 30th and May 1st. The combination of travel, hotel stays and competing on a course altogether foreign to the Lions provided a number of excuses the team could have made, but the relatively young group seemed altogether unphased in their resilience leading up to and throughout the event. The team prepared faithfully by finishing Monday’s classes and quickly departing SM for a non-stop 3.5-hour jaunt to maximize daylight and scout each of the course’s unique and challenging 18 holes. After sharing notes around a good meal together, seniors Hudson Brown, Charlie Hill and Henry Hoak, along with sophomore Duff McKay and freshmen James Hoak and Sam Merryman went straight to sleep and arrived back at the course before dawn. Thankfully, concerns of rain dissipated, and the sporadic clouds made for a slightly cooler first day. The course was in great shape heading into a LIV tournament that will be hosted at the site in June, so everyone was excited to take advantage of the terrific opportunity. Unfortunately, the Lions struggled out of the gate. Nearly every player bogeyed the first hole, and the Marksmen found themselves trailing 8-time defending champion, Kinkaid, by more than 10 strokes almost immediately. Toward the end of the front nine, though, St. Mark’s got hot, stringing together a phenomenal stretch that vaulted them into first place. A birdie followed by a chip-in par sparked Hudson Brown’s effort, and Sam Merryman showed extraordinary poise by playing his final 15 holes at even par. Kinkaid made a run of their own that regained the lead by 5 strokes at the end of day 1, but the Lions at least put themselves in a position to turn their back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2022 and 2023 into a 2024 championship.
The next morning, SM looked determined to take the field by storm. Merryman notched an early birdie, and Duff McKay looked inspired following a tournament-best 72 on day 1 that included one of the greatest shots ever made at SPC – a full swing wedge from 10 yards off the 16th green to send a ball buried in thick mud from next to a grandstand over a bunker and right next to the cup for a par tap-in. It was truly sensational! When a few inevitable setbacks (pin locations were tougher, temperatures were warmer, etc.) caused the Lions to stumble, the Hoak brothers showed their grit by buoying the scoring later in the round (a highlight of the tournament was the look on the face of James Hoak, when he learned that older his brother, Henry, had surpassed him on the leaderboard – the competitive juices really kicked in, and James put together a couple of birdies almost immediately!). Charlie Hill’s leadership was on full display as a calming force for teammates navigating the highs and lows of a typical round, and it was imperative because day 2 was altogether unkind to the Lions. Perhaps the most telling evidence of that reality was Duff McKay notching back-to-back-to-back birdies to distance himself from the rest of the leaderboard on the final 9 holes, but then watching two beautiful drives down the middle of the fairway settle into divots that led to bogies, ultimately forcing him to settle for second overall and the team third. What a tough way to finish the tournament! Nonetheless, the Lions overcame disappointment with the utmost sportsmanship. James Hoak finished just one stroke away from medaling as a top scorer, and Duff McKay finished as the tournament runner-up – both extraordinary achievements for underclassmen in a field rich with elderly talent! The future is bright for St. Mark’s golf, but the record 36-man roster will be forced to say goodbye to six marvelous seniors. Captains Charlie Hill, Henry Hoak and Hudson Brown will graduate alongside Jordan Feldman, Zach Olyan and Harry Wang. Congrats to the entire team on a fantastic season!!
BASEBALL
Coming off a great win against fellow North Zone 4A rival Greenhill, the varsity baseball team matched up against Houston powerhouse St. John’s in the first round of the SPC tournament. Due to rainy conditions, all games were played at Parish Episcopal and Bishop Lynch, two local all-turf fields. St. Mark’s ace Deven Pietrzak was brilliant through four innings, completely shutting down the potent St. John’s offense. Additionally, the defense was flawless on the turf during the pitchers’ duel as well. The Maverick’s left-hander was also up to the challenge, striking out 13 Lions’ hitters through six innings of stellar work. Jack Frary and John Stephen Hohmann both singled, which were the only hits collected by the offense on a very tough day at the plate for St. Mark’s. Down five runs in the top of the 7th, the Lions tried to rally until St. John’s closer struck out three batters in a row to end the game and the varsity team’s season.
LACROSSE
The varsity lacrosse team entered the THSLL playoffs this week as the #9 seed in the “A” division bracket. The Lions took on #8 seed Memorial High School on Saturday, May 4th in the first round and emerged victorious with a 7-6 win, playing perhaps their best game of the season. The following day the team would battle #1 seed St. John’s, and despite a valiant effort and 5-4 lead entering the 4thquarter, the Lions would fall 6-5, ending the season. The team played their best lacrosse of the season in the last two games, battled hard against quality opponents, and represented St. Mark’s well.
TENNIS
The varsity tennis team finished 6th place overall in the 4A division of the SPC championships. A hard-fought battle against St. Stephen’s (the eventual champions) in the first round took the Lions out of competition for the finals, but the team followed it up with a decisive win over EHS on Friday. On Saturday, the boys played well against John Cooper, but ultimately lost 2-3. Both points were won by sophomores—Aryaman Lahoti and Nathaniel Hochman—and St. Mark’s nearly had the win with a 3rd set nailbiter by sophomore doubles team Kian Foshee and Tejas Allada. The sophomores stepped up to carry the team this weekend, so the team will be looking forward to big things from them next year!
CREW
St. Mark’s rowers finished their regular season in Oklahoma City on May 3rd-5th at the Central District Youth Championships. This event is the regional qualifier event for USRowing’s Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida. Spring weather threatened again, but good planning and contingency plans were in place to allow all races to be completed. The time trials started on Friday and continued Saturday Morning. Midmorning brought thunder and lightning which stopped racing dead in its tracks. Although delayed, the racing resumed after several hours. By Sunday morning at 11 a.m. all the finals had been successfully run. The men’s 2x time trial saw Marksmen finish in 3rd and 4th place behind Texas Rowing Center and the Episcopal School of Dallas. In the final, Ian McGowan and Elijah Kraus finished 3rd with the boat of Hewes Lance and Linyang Lee finishing 5th. The varsity 4x of McGowan, Kraus, Lance and Lee closed the 22-second gap from a dominant Texas Rowing Center in the time trial to half that to come in 2nd place pushing out ESD. The 2nd Varsity 4x’s of Zack Goforth, Kevon Mostafavipour, Eric Yi and Preston Ghafar came in 4thand Whit Edwards, Jack Tholking, Adam Dalrymple and Nate Wilson finished 6th in their final. In the U17 4x final, Andrew Hofmann, J.B. McKinney, Ben Standefer and Walker Stevens finished in 3rdplace for the bronze medal. In the Novice 4x event, Azim Moosa, Ilan Gunawardena, Shiv Bhandari and Harlan Smith finished 4th. The final event of the weekend was the novice 2x. Andrew Hofmann and Walker Stevens dominated the field and finished in 1st place for the gold medal. The 2x crewed with Jack Shepro and Wyatt Auer finished 4th, Noah Saenz and Mateen Mostafavipour finished 5th and Kiran Parikh and Harlan Smith finished 6th. St. Mark’s varsity 4x has already begun training to compete in the Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida on June 5-9.
TRACK & FIELD
The SPC track & field meet was a rollercoaster ride for the team and the coaching staff. On Friday, the day consisted of all the field events, the 3200m run, and the 4x800m relay. Some highlights included Bobby Strauss finishing third in the discus, earning ALL-SPC and scoring 6 points for the Lions, the 4x800 relay team of Noah Roby, Clark Cooper, Parker Steinbruec and Raja Mehendale finishing fourth and earning the team 10 points. Ace Wilburn finished 7th in the pole vault, Mateu Parker finished 7th in the long jump, Baker Long finished 7th in the triple jump, and William Morrow finished 8th in the discus, all earning points for the Lions on day one. St. Mark’s stood in 5th place at the end of the day. Everybody was a little disappointed, but Saturday would be a new day, a day to change the team’s trajectory.
What transpired on Saturday was amazing! The meet started off with 4x100 relay. The Lions were seeded 4th going into the race. When it was over, St. Mark’s had finished 3rd and run 42.36, the #3 best time in school history! This set the mindset of the team in a new trajectory. The next event was the 800m. All three SM runners were in heat #1. They proceeded to finish 3-4-5 in that race with Raja, Parker and Noah all recording personal records (PRs). The next event was the 110m Hurdles. Mateu Parker finished 6th, his first hurdle race in 4 weeks and AJ Thomas ran a PR and finished 8th. The next event was the 100m. Temi Balogun and Ethan Singleton were in the fastest heat. They both got out fast and continued to accelerate the entire race. Temi finished 2nd in 10.76, a new PR, and Ethan finished 5th in 10.99, also a PR. More team points. The trajectory continued to rise. The next event was the 400m. Tripp Schoellkopf and Julian Gerstle were in the second fastest heat and raced well. Julian came away with a PR of 52.37. The last heat pitted Ethan Singleton against the top runner from Houston Christian, the prohibitive favorite. Ethan finally ran the race as it was supposed to be run and came off the final curve in 2nd place. He held that position all the way to the finish. Coach Turek could not believe the time when they announced it, 48.49! A new school record! A record that stood for 35 years!
The next race was the 300m hurdles. Mateu, running on fumes because of his other events, finished a respectable 5th and AJ ran another PR and finished 8th. The next event was the 200m and Temi had drawn the 2nd fastest heat. When the gun went off, he shot out of his blocks like a bullet. He made up the stagger and passed all the other runners as they came off the turn. He extended his lead and finished way ahead of the pack. His time of 21.97 was another PR and held up as the #3 time overall, garnering him another ALL-SPC award. The next event was the 1600m with Clark Cooper and Parker Steinbrueck in the first heat. Cooper ran one of the best races of his life and finished 1st in a new PR. Parker finished right behind him and, you guessed it, another PR. More team points. The last event was the 4x400m relay. We were seeded 4th going into the race with an entry time of 3:31.10. It is worth mentioning that time because what this relay team did in the final race was nothing short of greatness. Tripp started off with a fine 52.0 leg. Mateu found another gear and handed off in 50.6. Julian raced around the track in very fine 52.6. Ethan then got the baton and ran like never before. Coming off the final turn, he battled John Cooper stride for stride and just getting edged out at the finish by 8/100th of a second. His split was an amazing 48.5! Total time for the quartet was 3:23.98. They dropped 7 seconds from their season best and finished with the #5 time in school history! An amazing second day of competition and an amazing change in trajectory for these boys. The team finished 5th overall.
ALUMNI ATHLETE UPDATE
Logan Johnson ’23, a freshman on the Sewanee Men’s golf team, was named second team all-conference for the Tigers. He posted a 74.78 scoring average in 19 rounds this season.
St. Mark’s School of Texas
10600 Preston Road
Dallas, Texas 75230
214-346-8000
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.
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.
