The Southwest Preparatory Conference Track and Field State Championships took place April 30-May 2 at various venues in Houston and multiple local teams, headlined by Greenhill, Hockaday and St. Mark’s, found success.
Listed below are the highlights and top performers for Preston Hollow programs that were in action:
Greenhill Contingent Excels
Junior Rian Kinsler earned individual gold at the 4A girls meet in both the 100-meter and 200 events to highlight a strong showing by the Hornets.
Kinsler, the daughter of former Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler, ran 11.70 in the 100 before posting 24.08 in the 200.
Kinsler wasn’t done, however, as she also ran the opening leg for Greenhill’s gold-medal-winning 1,600 relay quartet. Joining Kinsler for the mile relay were junior Alex Han, senior Nia Harrison and freshman Jesai Rider, which combined for a time of 4:00.42.
Kinsler captured yet another medal as she anchored the 400 relay featuring Harrison, Rider and junior Raelyn Young to a time of 48.08 and second-place finish.
Harrison, a Southern California signee, added three individual medals, including gold in the high jump (5-8) to go with bronze in the 200 (25.26) and long jump (17-1.5).
Han captured individual gold in the 800 (2:18.52), while Rider collected individual gold in the 300 hurdles (45.41) and silver in the 100 hurdles (14.80).
Junior Kacy Johnson rounded out the Greenhill medal haul finishing second in the triple jump (37-5.75).
In all, Greenhill totaled 12 medals to place third in the team standings with 130 points.
Balance Leads Hockaday to Silver
Though the Hockaday Daisies did not win any gold medals, their upper-tier finishes were enough to earn silver in the 4A teams standings with a total of 141.5 points.
A strong showing in the field events helped boost Hockaday’s team scoring as freshman Zaneta Wallace won silver and bronze in the shot put and discus, respectively. Wallace’s 32-4.25 toss was second in the shot put, and she threw 103-10 in the discus.
Junior Samantha Moseley, meanwhile, earned bronze in the pole vault (9-0).
The foursome of freshman Aniela Coughlin, sophomore Abby Crook, junior Victoria Zavala, and freshman Natalie McLeroy ran a 10:00.68 to claim bronze in the 3,200 relay.
Junior Kora Thomas took bronze in the 300 hurdles (46.77), while senior Sena-Ter Anson (17-7) soared to silver in the long jump with senior Lily Roberts taking bronze in the triple jump (36-5.5) to add to Hockaday’s medal count.
Hockaday’s eight medals were included in its silver-winning team total, however it was the depth of their performances that boosted the Daisies to second overall.
Roberts finished fourth in both the 100 and 200, Natalie McLeroy was seventh in both the 1,600 and 3,200. Thomas, sophomore Emily Chen and senior Emily McLeroy finished fourth, fifth, and sixth in the 100 hurdles.
St. Mark’s Takes Bronze
Similar to Hockaday, the St. Mark’s Lions did not win any gold medals, but their consistency added up to 139 team points, which was good enough for a bronze finish.
Junior Tripp Schoellkopf earned silver and bronze, respectively, in the 400 (49.68) and 200 (21.94) events. Schoellkopf teamed with senior Max Bean, senior Riggs Bean and junior Braden Scott to claim silver in both the 400 relay (42.98) and 1,600 relay (3:27.81).
Max Bean won silver in the long jump (21-11.75) while Riggs Bean’s 11.07 in the 100 earned bronze.
Freshman Bryce Jones-Quaidoo claimed bronze in the 300 hurdles with a leap of 42-09.
Strong performances in the field events helped the Lions. Junior Omar Jenkins picked up a pair of bronze medals in the shot put (45-9) and discus (126-4) while sophomore Dillon Kennedy’s 135-0 in discus earned silver.
Freshman William Cho took bronze in the 1,600 (4:30.40), which was just 0:00.50 ahead of freshman teammate Nicholas Cho. The Lions’ Jackson Bailey finished fifth in the 1,600 giving the team 3-4-5 finishes in the event. Bailey, a junior, also placed fifth in the 3,200 (9:59.15).
St. Mark’s totaled 12 medals for its third-place overall team finish.
The Lions have won 39 SPC Track and Field Championships that date back to 1958, the last coming in 2022.
Other Notable Performances
The Greenhill boys finished sixth overall in the team standings with 67 points, picking up two gold medals. Senior Oliver Hill won gold in the shot put event with a toss of 49-5.25. Senior Aiden James Rischer also won gold, finishing first in the pole vault event with a 13-0 leap. Rischer claimed silver in the triple jump with a 44-2.75 leap. Sophomore Jack Marshall earned bronze in the 800 (1:56.82). The Hornets quartet of Marshall, sophomore Evan Tai, senior Weber Hamilton and senior Gori Wong captured bronze in the 3,200 relay competition (8:10.42).
The only 3A division medal from local teams went to Episcopal School of Dallas freshman Lily Fahrenholz, who claimed bronze in the 1,600 (5:36.39). Fahrenholz just missed out on a second medal, finishing fourth in the 3,200 race (12:12.28).
St. Mark’s, Hockaday Medal in Tennis
St. Mark’s and Hockaday each had to settle for runner-up finishes in the tennis state championships.
St. Mark’s, the No. 2 seed, fell to top-seeded Houston St. John’s, 3-1, in the 4A title match.
St. Mark’s had ousted Houston Kinkaid, 3-1, in the semifinal. St Mark’s was declared the SPC 2021 champion when there was no state tournament, but St. Mark’s, the North zone champion, defeated the South zone champion in a regular season match. Prior to that, St. Mark’s last SPC boys tennis championship came in 2002.
Hockaday, the No. 2 seed, succumbed to top seed and two-time defending champion Houston Kinkaid, 3-1, in the 4A title match. Hockaday had eliminated Houston St. John’s, 3-1, in the semifinal following a three-set quarterfinal sweep over Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart. Hockaday, which won its last SPC girls tennis title in 2016, finished the season 14-1-1.
ESD Wins Girls Lacrosse Title
Episcopal School of Dallas dethroned four-time reigning champion Hockaday, 12-10, in the girls lacrosse championship game for its first girls lacrosse crown since 2017.
Meanwhile, St. Mark’s captured the 4A boys lacrosse title with a 10-3 win over Houston Kinkaid for its first SPC boys lacrosse title since 2012.
In the golf state tournament, Greenhill (4A) and ESD (3A) were runners-up in the boys division.
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