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Mavericks Shine on SPC Saturday

Sunshine and Mavericks made for a good mix on SPC Saturday.
Boys' Track and Field won their second SPC championship in the last three years and Girls' Tennis joined Girls' Golf for back-to-back spring season titles.

After rain delays in the early goings of SPC, St. John’s Mavericks awakened on SPC Saturday to sunny skies to make the most of the final day in Dallas. Softball surged for an upset win over top seed Greenhill. Led by Lauren McKelvey’s two home runs and Bunny Harpold’s 13 K’s, St. John’s took out the Hornets 6-5. A McKelvey to Meridian Monthy pickoff was the final out. St. John’s faced Kinkaid in the conference semi-finals. SJS took a 3-0 lead on a double from Julia Waller and another home run by McKelvey. Kinkaid tied it in the fourth inning and added three more runs for the victory. St. John’s finished third.

Rounding out the morning games, Girls’ Lacrosse battled Kinkaid well into the second half for a 12-8 loss and a fourth-place finish. Their game plan of slowing down the tempo kept the Mavericks in contention.

In the fifth-place match, Boys’ Tennis faced St. Andrew’s, who beat the Mavericks early in the regular season. Bryan Trammell/Mark Trautner won #2 doubles 6-1, 6-4 and Jackson Edwards/Jack Shea held on for 6-0, 7-6 win at #1 doubles. Andrew Sall and Vijay Patel were in their third sets when Eric Lee closed out #3 singles with 7-6, 6-1 clinching win.

Girls Tennis breezed through the first two rounds to the championship to face Kinkaid, the one team that took them to the wire in the regular season. The title contest would be no different.
The Mavericks jumped out to a 2-0 lead with #1 doubles (Betsy Hook/Hannah Chang) winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. #3 singles Katherine Johnston also won in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.
#1 singles Sophia Huynh lost 6-4, 6-2 putting the match on the strings of #2 doubles Sara Doyle/Shelby Jordan. After winning the first set 7-6 (7-5), Doyle and Jordan lost the second set 2-6. The third set would also go to a tiebreaker.  Up 2-0 in the third, St. John’s went up 3-2 before Kinkaid took the lead 4-3. The Mavs responded to go up 5-4 serving for the match but lost their service then break back and go up 6-5. The Falcons forced the tiebreaker, and the Mavericks took care of business winning 7-2 for the third and decisive match for the championship. # 2 singles Hannah Johnston (5-7, 6-1) was on serve in the third set when the match was closed out.

“It was a tremendous job by everyone,” said first-year Head Coach Zeze de Moura. “The entire team was solid and we fought for every point.”

“We had total support from the team and parents and the boys team,” said assistant coach John Ciarleglio. “This was huge, especially for the deciding doubles match. To serve for a match and lose your service game and comeback showed mental fortitude.”

“They are very resilient,” said de Moura. “We worked on doubles strategies and formations during practice and we are solid from top to bottom.”

“All of our players were a factor in helping each other become better,” said Ciarleglio.

Meanwhile, Boys’ Track & Field was a force of their own on SPC Saturday, putting on record-breaking performances for their second championship in the past three years. St. John’s (172.5) finished ahead of runner-up St. St. Stephen’s (151).  The Girls team finished in 4th place. Ciela Stark, Molly Issac, Catie Beck and Mira Thakur finished third in the 4 x 400 with Thakur passing and holding off Cooper on the anchor.  The Boys broke the school and SPC records in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays and the school record in the 4 x 800 relay.  Collin Fullen ran an official 10.57 seconds in 100 meters to tie the record set by Amar Johnson in 1998 and Genson Hooper Price in 2017. Hooper Price finished second with a time of 10.59 seconds.

“In the past, the deal was that I was not reacting to the gun properly, so this race I focused on driving out at the gun and I think that helped me…yeah, it feels good,” said Fullen with a smile.

“Records and great performances all around, but the 2-3-4 finish in the 800 was the turning point and we never looked back,” said Head Coach Richie Mercado.

Baseball played all of their games on Saturday, winning their opener over Greenhill 7-2 and quarterfinals against Oakridge 6-5. In the championship semi-finals played at night at Trinity Valley in Fort Worth, St. John’s lost 15-0 to Kinkaid.

SPC Saturday closes with new records, championships, and the wherewithal from St. John’s Mavericks to wait out mother nature, not panic from their own mistakes, and try new tactics for the betterment of the team. 
 
Sam Chambers – Athletic News
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