The Wakefield Warriors girls and boys cross-country teams had solid finishes in the recent Arlington County varsity high-school meets.
The girls placed second in the annual event at Bluemont Park and the boys were third. The top five individual finishers for the girls were underclassmen.
Leading the way was Aila Simkiss. The sophomore placed fourth, running the 5,000-meter course in 20:18. The next four were junior Wren Gabel (eighth, 21:10), freshman Elizabeth Davis (10th, 21:14), sophomore Roxanne Carnahan (16th, 22:24) and junior Dru Kukawa (17th, 22:25).
Leading the Wakefield boys was senior Kai Simkiss in fourth with a 17:57 time. He was the only senior among the team’s top five. His junior teammate Daniel Fulton was 12th (18:24). Also, sophomore Aaron Evans was 25th (19:42), junior Nathaniel Knauer was 27th (19:43) and junior Vikram Martinez was 32nd (20:11).
In other Wakefield sports action:
Volleyball: The Warriors girls volleyball team continued its solid high-school season with three recent victories to improve its overall record to 11-9. The squad stands 5-5 in the Liberty District.
Recent wins were over the Yorktown Patriots, 3-1, and the McLean Highlanders, 3-1, in district action and 3-0 over the Centreville Wildcats in non-district play.
Wakefield is led by seniors Kayleigh Williams, Taylor Harrington, Annika Lersten and Maya Robinson.
The Warriors won just eight matches last season and only three the year before.
In boys volleyball, Wakefield won four straight matches after losing its first four of the season. The wins were over Yorktown twice, plus Meridian and Brentsville District.
Football: The Warriors (2-5, 0-3) suffered lopsided losses in their last three high-school football games, all Liberty District contests. The Warriors fell to the Washington-Liberty Generals, 30-0, and Yorktown Patriots, 27-2, in all-Arlington away games and were defeated by the visiting Langley Saxons, 49-7.
Running back Miles Robbins and quarterback Judah Connor were leading rushers for Wakefield in those games. Connor had a long 56-yard run, then a 26-yard scoring run against Langley. Both gained significant yards on the ground in the Oct. 16 road loss to Yorktown, Wakefield’s most recent contest. The Warriors, though, never seriously threatened to score a touchdown.
The Warriors led 2-0 for much of the first half as a result of a first-quarter safety. Yorktown scored a touchdown with eight seconds left in the first half to take the lead for good. The Warriors were hurt by five turnovers.
Wakefield needs to win two of its remaining three games to do better than last season’s total of three victories. The Warriors play at the Marshall Statesmen (3-4, 1-2) in a district game Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
Golf: The season ended for the Warriors co-ed golf team with a sixth-place finish at the 18-hole 6D North Region tournament at Bristow Manor Golf Club in Prince William County. Wakefield’s team score was 336.
Carding the Warriors’ lowest individual score was junior Phillip Verghese with an 80 to tie for 20th. Miles Maravilla, a senior, shot 84, senior Tommy Zwicker and junior Eliana Procida each had 86, senior Lachlan Capps shot 90 and freshman Flynn Uscinski 92.
No Wakefield players qualified for the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tournament.
Wakefield qualified for the region tournament for the first time at the 6D level by finishing second in the 18-hole Liberty District tournament with a 309 team score.
