<b>All-National District Basketball Teams Announced</b>
Yorktown senior Lindiwe Rennert, junior Peyton Lee and Washington-Lee freshman Emma Cooper were named first team All-National District for girls basketball. Wakefield sophomore Allison Brigaw-Butler earned second-team honors.
Yorktown juniors Lena Negri and Brooke Huffman, Washington-Lee senior Ellie Mills and Wakefield freshman Nadeya Quarles garnered honorable mention.
Rennert and Quarles were named first team all-defense. Huffman, Mills, Cooper and Wakefield junior Nia Liberty received second-team honors.
Cooper, Quarles and Yorktown sophomore Lauren Dresser made the all-rookie team.
Edison senior point guard Myisha Goodwin was the district Player of the Year and the Defensive Player of the Year. Edison sophomore Ruth Sherrill was named Rookie of the Year.
For the boys, Yorktown senior Mike Veith and Wakefield senior Kireah Mathis were named to the second team. Wakefield’s Thomas Taylor and Corey Aldrich and Yorktown’s Jack Earley received honorable mention.
Washington-Lee’s Rodderick Battle and Wakefield’s Mathis were named to the all-defensive team.
<b>Yorktown Girls Take Sixth at Swimming States</b>
The Yorktown girls swim and dive team finished in sixth place on Friday at the state swim and dive competition in Virginia Beach. The Patriots scored 101 points, five behind fifth-place West Springfield. Robinson finished first with 227.5.
Senior Kaitlin Wolla placed fifth in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 4.8 seconds. She was also part of the Patriots’ 200 medley relay team (Lydia Carpenter, Abigail Ortmayer, Angela Slevin, Wolla) which finished second with a time of 2:02.77.
"I love doing relays," Wolla said. "Swimming is a very individual-based sport. You’re on your own most of the time. But in a relay you have to depend on your teammates for everything. … It’s just a completely different feeling than when you’re swimming by yourself. It’s a lot more fun."
Wolla signed to swim at the University of Delaware next season.
Ortmayer recorded the fifth-fastest time in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.35).
<b>W-L Swimmers Compete at States</b>
Washington-Lee’s Freddy Crawford placed second in the boys 200 free on Friday during the state swim and dive meet in Virginia Beach, recording a time of 1 minute, 52.78 seconds. He also took second in the 100 free (52.40). Jake Huston took sixth in the boys 100 breaststroke (1:06.25) for the Generals. Carl Buergler took third in the boys 1-meter dive (475.750).
<b>Yorktown Girls Advance to Basketball Regionals</b>
The Yorktown girls basketball team defeated Wakefield 55-35 on Thursday during the opening round of the National District tournament, securing the Patriots a spot in the regional tournament. Yorktown lost to Mount Vernon 73-65 on Friday in the semifinals of the district tourney.
Yorktown trailed by 17 at halftime against Mount Vernon but battled back within single digits.
"In the second half we came out and we played much better defense — we understood the matchups," Yorktown head coach Dave Garrison said. "[Mount Vernon] is a very athletic team, very strong to the hole, so you’ve got to give them something. We gave them the outside shots in the first half and they hit them. We got down a little bit and … lost faith in our system. In the second half we came out and Lindiwe Rennert did an excellent job of keeping the team together — I’m very proud of her effort."
Against Mount Vernon, Yorktown junior Peyton Lee led all scorers with 24 points. The junior also led the Patriots with 17 points against Wakefield.
"She worked very hard in the offseason, training every day, working on her shot, working on all parts of her game," Garrison said of Lee. "She’s going to continue to improve. I think she’s grown up a lot. She didn’t play much at all sophomore year and kind of got thrown to the wolves as a point guard in our first eight games [this season]. We played some of the top teams in the region that really pressure the guard and she got a trial by fire. She really has stepped up since then."
Lena Negri scored 16 against Mount Vernon and Brooke Huffman added 11.
The Patriots will travel for their regional tournament opener tonight.
<b>Wakefield Boys, W-L Girls Eliminated</b>
The Wakefield boys basketball team lost to Stuart 67-58 on Thursday during the first round of the National District tournament, ending the Warriors’ season.
Thomas Taylor and Kireah Mathis each scored 17 points for Wakefield during the loss. Corey Aldrich added 13.
The Washington-Lee girls lost to Hayfield 46-22 during the opening round. Brianna Hogan scored a team-high eight points in the Generals’ final game.