Winter Championship Recap

The Varsity Winter Sports teams headed to Dallas for the final championship tournament of the season on February 9-11. Girls and Boys Basketball, Girls and Boys Soccer, and Swimming traveled to culminate their seasons in what was a great showing for the St. Stephen’s Athletic teams.

Girls Soccer: The Varsity Girls Soccer team competed with heart against talented opponents in the 4A bracket at the SPC Tournament. The Spartans faced a technically skilled and very athletic St. John’s team to open the weekend. The squad was organized and purposeful in their approach to Coach Aceves’ game plan against the Mavericks, but ultimately fell 0-3. On Friday, the Spartans took the pitch against Episcopal School of Dallas and battled through regulation and overtime before dropping to the Eagles in penalty kicks. On Saturday, the Spartans challenged Greenhill’s back line with a relentless attack. Kayla Fink (11th grade) notched the winning goal in the second half, Nora Felner (12th grade) and her defensive line earned the shutout to complete the Varsity Girls Soccer season.

Boys Soccer: The Boys Varsity Soccer team competed in the SPC 3A Tournament this weekend, facing Episcopal School of Dallas in the first round on Thursday afternoon. The Spartans defended well but ultimately fell 0-3. The team turned around on Friday to take on Houston Christian in an evenly-matched game. The squad tallied two goals in the final minutes of regulation to push the match to overtime. Unfortunately, the Mustangs came out on top in penalty kicks. In the final game of the season, the Spartans took on Oakridge and earned a convincing 3-0 victory to end the tournament. Goals were scored by Carson Thu, Owen Brunson (11th grade) and an own goal by the Owls.

Girls Basketball: The Girls Varsity Basketball competed in the 3A SPC Tournament over the weekend. Tournament captains for the team, Trinity Borer (12th grade) and Emilia Fink (9th grade), led the charge with undeniable effort and heart on both ends of the court. Post presence for the weekend was filled by Asha Williams (11th grade) and Annabel Furlong (10th grade), as the pair led the Spartans for rebounds across all three games. Defensively, Tristan Lovell (10th grade), Evie Kadyan (9th grade), and Hannah Krauss (9th grade) brought the team much needed energy. Harriet Crofut (11th grade), Eleanor Evarts (9th grade), and Alice Wilkerson (11th grade) hit key buckets when the team needed it most. The Spartans went 1-2 on the weekend, and finished the season with a win against Oakridge on Saturday.

Boys Basketball: The Boys Varsity Basketball team competed in the 4A SPC Tournament to close their season. The Spartans fought hard every game and demonstrated a lot of growth as they took on challenging opponents with deep benches. Jack Mabley (12th grade) led the young team with his senior leadership and experience. Younger Spartans and shooting guards, Gabe Sahely (10th grade) and Charlie Dugan (10th grade), and point guard Will Gasink (9th grade), all had a solid tournament. The future is bright for the Spartan Basketball team. 

Swimming: Both the Boys and Girls Swim teams finished with their highest SPC placement in school history. The boys team earned the runner-up trophy in the 4A Division at SPC. It was a tight race between St. Marks (119 points), the Spartans (112 points), and St John’s (109 points). Every single event was important! The boys were led by Logan Walker (12th grade), who claimed two first place finishes in the 100m Fly and 100m Back and helped the team to earn two wins in the 200m Medley and 400m Free relays. It was an exemplary performance from the senior in his final meet as a Spartan. Tristan McCain (9th grade), Watt Wilkinson (10th grade), and Levi Skaistis (9th grade) joined Walker on winning both relays, in addition to picking up two 2nd place finishes (McCain in the 200m Free and 500 Free), a 2nd and 3rd place (Wilkinson in the 200m Free and 100m Free) and a 3rd and 4th place(Skaistis in the 100m Breast and 200m IM). Also earning vital points for the Spartan boys were 200m Free relay members Tijl Peeters (9th grade), Deji Fafunwa (11th grade),  Patrick Lemuel (11th grade), and Max Lain (11th grade) who finished fourth in the event.

 

The Girls Team also earned the runner-up title in the 3A Division, finished second only to Awty International from Houston. The team was led in scoring by Kristin Svahn (12th grade) and Caroline Jones (11th grade). Svahn and Jones both earned 2nd place finishes on the 200m Medley and 400m Free relays, respectively. Also contributing points to the team total were Suan Park (10th grade), Lucy Middleton (10th grade), Liza Flink (10th grade), and Jade Guerard (11th grade).