St. Mark’s lacrosse coach Francis Donald told his players last week it’s be his last season coaching the Marksmen. Donald has been lured away to California in the admissions office of the prestigious The Bishop school in La Jolla.
But for St. Mark’s, the Texas High School Lacrosse League showdown with the fifth-place seed next Tuesday for a berth in the THSLL regional tournament. St. Mark’s ended the regular season as the No. 4 seed. Top-seeded and defending state champion Highland Park and No. 2-seed Jesuit have district playoff and first-round regional byes. ESD is the No. 3 seed and has a district playoff against the No. 6 seed next Tuesday.
St. Mark’s remains one of the state pioneers in lacrosse. Donald has been instrumental in keeping the depth and breadth of the North Dallas private school program intact after he took over for Hayward Lee three years ago. After St. Mark’s won the Division I state championship. Lee, who has been teaching at St. Mark’s after the birth of twins, would be a community favorite to retake the reins of the St. Mark’s program but school administrators aren’t commenting until after the St. Mark’s season.
Donald informed his team of his departure as the Lions prepare for the knock-out round pressure of district and, possibly, regional tournament. St. Mark’s is building toward a strong playoff run behind sophomore goalie John Gunnin and senior defender Max Sadlowski leading the way in a key district win over Plano West in March. The Lions have a balanced side with senior Graham Gillespie, a rehabbing junior Jake Vaughn, sophomores Willy Wood and Garrett Mize and freshman Grayson Feick hoping to make a THSLL tournament splash after a close loss (12-9) to Highland Park last Friday. St. Mark’s reached the SPC final two weeks ago with an upset of Houston Kinkaid in the semifinal before a loss to ESD in the championship match.
Check out THSLL Regional Preview next week
