Houston teams clean up at tournament
Episcopal ends droughts for school, South Zone in boys soccer
The Episcopal boys soccer team made the next logical step in its progression, claiming its first title in more than two decades at the Southwest Preparatory Conference Winter Championships last week in Houston.
“W e finished fourth, third and second in the SPC the last three years, so it feels incredible to finally get first place,” said Episcopal head coach Travis Smith. “We’re also the first team from the South Zone to win since the mid1990s. It’s been a really long time.”
Episcopal’s most recent SPC crown dated back during the 1991-92 season, but the Knights ended the drought with a 3-1 victory over rival St. John’s in a rare all-Houston final.
Junior forward Carlos Valdez notched two goals and junior midfielder Hall Sasnett added the other as Episcopal wrapped up a remarkable 15-1-2 season.
Episcopal’s toughest test came in the semifinals, a 2-1 overtime thriller against Dallas St. Mark’s. The Knights fell behind quickly before Valdez evened the score with another goal. Sophomore defender Chris Short registered the game-winner on a penalty kick.
In the quarterfinals, freshman midfielder Victor Velasco and Valdez each had goals as Episcopal knocked off Austin St. Stephen’s 2-0.
Smith said it was important for his squad, the No. 2 seed from the South Zone, to have an opening bye.
“In a 12-team tournament like this, the bye definitely helps and it’s a nice reward for the top two teams,” Smith said. “We came into it pretty healthy and were confident. We came so close to winning last year and our expectation was to take it a step further.”
Smith felt that Valdez, who racked up four goals over the three-day event, was the clear standout.
“Carlos was our leading scorer the last two years,” Smith said. “He’s a once-every-10 years- kind of a player.”
Smith credited Episcopal’s defense, anchored by senior Holden Zisman, junior Cristian Arias, Short and freshman Humberto Leal, and senior goalkeeper Giancarlo Ayanegui for their stellar play.
“Our back line was amazing,” Smith said. “Giancarlo will be a threetime all-SPC goalie. He only surrendered eight goals all year.”
The fun should continue for Episcopal, with a strong nucleus returning.
“We’ll graduate nine seniors, but only four were starters,” Smith said. “This year’s senior class in four years had 50 wins. It won’t be easy to replace them.”
While St. John’s finished second, Kinkaid settled for fourth place, losing to Dallas St. Mark’s 3-2 in the third-place contest. Houston Christian tied for 11th place.
Depth pays off for St. John’s wrestlers
St. John’s head coach Alan Paul admitted the Mavericks weren’t overly emotional about securing a third SPC wrestling championship in four years on their home mat last week.
“Honestly, we e xpected to win,” Paul said. “That’s the st andard that’s been set here at St. John’s every year.”
Predictably, St. John’s came out on top with 212 points, with Dallas St. Mark’s with 160, Kinkaid with 115.5 and Episcopal with 108 taking the next three positions.
Once again, the Mavericks’ depth proved to be the difference.
“Wemay have won only two weight classes, but we had seven seconds,” said a proud Paul. “Dallas St. Mark’s had four individual champions, but we were the better ‘team.’ Every one of our guys scored and we won seven matches in the first round by pin, which gave us extra points.”
Senior Yo Akiyama was the tournament’s star, easily winning the 152-pound division. Akiyama, 45-4 this season and owner of 125 victories in his memorable St. John’s career, added the SPC crown to his Texas Prep State gold medal he captured a week earlier.
“Without a doubt, Yo is one of the greatest all-time athletes we’ve ever had at St. John’s,” Paul said.
St. John’s other individual champ was junior Josh Thomas, who won at 220 pounds when Kinkaid sophomore Colin Lawler forfeited due to injury.
Coming second for the Mavericks were freshman Ben Jacobs at 113, junior Evan Eisenberg at 120 and five sophomores – Evan Hammerman at 132, Layo Laniyan at 138, Matthew Mercado at 160, Peter Chen at 170 and Michael Meaux at 195.
Third-place finishers for St. John’s were sophomore Dani Yan at 145 and freshmen Nate Kagan at 106, August Windham at 126 and Harrison Fernelius at 285.
Paul was pleased with the way the Mavericks bounced back after their third-place effort at Texas Prep State, with Akiyama, Chen, Hammerman, Laniyan and Thomas earning all-state honors. Three St. John’s wrestlers – Akiyama, Chen and Thomas – qualified for Prep Nationals later this month in Lehigh, Pennsylvania.
Kinkaid dominated the SPC’s lower weight classes, with freshman Alexander Treistman and sophomores Edward Chamblee and Noah Chan winning at 106, 113 and 145, respectively.
While Lawler was second, third-place SPC finishers for the Falcons were junior Brighton Huynh at 120 and sophomore Max Mannetti at 138.
Episcopal senior Gio Pancotti lived up to his reputation as the SPC’s premier heavyweight, while senior Alex Cornell was a winner at 195.
Coming in second for the Knights were sophomore Matthew Melody at 126 and senior Kyle Robbins at 145, while freshman Chase Gray took third at 152.
Local teams come close
Kinkaid’s girls finished second in the SPC swimming and diving meet at the Conroe ISD Natatoriumin Shenandoah.
Dallas Hockaday was the girls’ champion with 85 points, while the Falcons with 75 and St. John’s with 69 rounded out the top three. Episcopal held on to fifth place with 50 points and Houston Christian came in ninth with 23.
Audrey Orange, amember of Kinkaid’s gifted group of freshmen, was a four-event winner for the Falcons. Orange swept both of her individual races, taking the 100-yard freestyle in 53.16 seconds and the 100-yard breast- stroke in 1:08.88. She also joined three more ninthgraders – Emily Moak, Ellie Lucke and May Moorfield – on Kinkaid’s victorious 200 freestyle relay (1:44.47) and 400 freestyle relay (3:50.00).
Moorfield also grabbed a silver medal in the 200 individual medley (2:17.62).
St. John’s girls added another top three showing, collecting big points in the relays. The 200 freestyle relay of seniors Lauren Jhin, Noel Higgason and Renee Roberts and freshman Lexi Pickens was second (1:45.40). Matching that finish was the 400 freestyle relay of Jhin, Pickens, senior Ellie Strawn and Higgason (3:52.88).
Pickens was a winner in the 50 freestyle (24.90) and placed second in the 100 freestyle (55.23) to power the Mavericks.
Episcopal’s girls had a terrific meet, too. The 200 medley relay of freshman Delaney Newsome, juniors Abbie Balat and Amanda Strang and senior Lizzie Polikoff took second (1:58.85). Newsome was second in the 200 freestyle (2:01.49), while Balat settled for third in the 200 individual medley (2:20.22).
The lone girls’ medalist from Houston Christian was junior Shelby Krummel, a second-place finisher in the 50 freestyle (25.68).
Dallas St. Mark’s dominated the boys’ competition with 197 points, with St. John’s second with 65 and Irving Cistercian third with 60. Close behind were Episcopal in fifth with 34, Kinkaid in sixth with 28 and Houston Christian in eighth with 19.
Three relay medals were enough to lift the Mavericks into the runner-up spot. The 200medley relay of sophomores Michael He and Samuel Ho and juniors Cooper Lue ck and Ethan Wang came in second (1:44.31), matching the foursome of Wang, He, sophomore Paul Schwartz and junior Matt Fastow in the 200 freestyle relay (1:33.15). St. John’s capped the way with a third-place showing by Lueck, He, Schwartz and Ho in the 400 freestyle relay (3:22.60).
Individually, Lueck was second in the 100 butterfly (53.37).
Episcopal’s 200 freestyle relay of junior Whitaker Proll-Clark and seniors Jack Reichert, Jacob Wise and John-Henry Thompson were third (1:36.50), while Wise ranked second in the 100 backstroke (55.85).
The top point-earner for Kinkaid’s boys was senior Nicholas Hernandez, who swept the 200 freestyle (1:43.95) and 500 freestyle (4:42.27).
Houston Christian sophomore Mark Shoemaker squeezed out a bronze medal in the 500 freestyle (4:57.37).
In other sports, Episcopal lost to Austin St. Stephen’s 66-57 in the rematch of last year’s boys basketball championship game. The two fifth-place contests had Houston Christian beating St. John’s 81-57 and Kinkaid falling to Dallas Greenhill 78-69.
The Kinkaid girls basketball team stumbled against Tulsa Holland Hall 62-49 in the finals. Episcopal won the fifthplace game over Houston Christian 56-50, while St. John’s lost to Austin St. Andrew’s 47-44 in the consolation finals to place 10th.
In girls soccer, several Houston-area teams battled in the fifth-place games, with St. John’s edging Episcopal 1-0 and Kinkaid slipping past Fort Worth Trinity Valley 2-1. Houston Christian lost to San Antonio St. Mary’s Hall 3-2 in the consolation finals to settle for 10th place.