Author: Dave Facinoli

Dave Facinoli grew up in Prince George’s County, Md. and attended Friendly High School. After attending Prince’s George Community College and James Madison University, where he covered sports on both college papers, he launched a local newspaper career that included roles as the sports editor of the Alexandria Gazette, the Arlington Sun Gazette and GazetteLeader, and other local papers.

Sports

Yorktown baseball team has long winning streaks against rivals

By Dave Facinoli
Sean Guffey, left, and Jack Rubin are top returners this season (photo by Dave Facinoli)

Dating back a number of seasons, the Yorktown Patriots have long winning streaks working against its two biggest Arlington County high-school baseball rivals.

Entering this spring’s action, Yorktown has defeated the Wakefield Warriors 25 straight times dating back to the 2007 campaign. Wakefield last defeated Yorktown when it swept three games from the Patriots in 2006.

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Sports

Divisions set for Arlington’s teams in biggest summer swim league

By Dave Facinoli
Donaldson Run's Mikey Maloney (file photo by Deb Kolt)

Of the four Arlington teams participating in the Northern Virginia Swimming League, only the Dominion Hills Thunder Ducks will change divisions for the upcoming summer season.

Dominion Hills will be in Division 8 this summer, down from Division 7, where the Thunder Ducks finished 1-4 last summer.

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Sports

Arlington high school sports schedule for March 14-20

By Dave Facinoli
W-L lacrosse goalie Alexander Conner (photo by Dave Facinoli)

The spring sports season is beginning in earnest starting this week and next for the majority of teams at all four high schools in Arlington.

A few teams have played regular-season events this week, while others are still participating in scrimmage events.

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Sports

Yorktown swim & dive team wins third straight state championship

By Dave Facinoli
The state champion Yorktown team (courtesy of Yorktown athletics)

Anxiety gave way to confidence as the Yorktown Patriots realized they would win a third straight girls state swimming-and-diving championship.

Yorktown finished first with 288 points Wednesday (March 5) at the Virginia High School League Class 6 state meet, with their rival Battlefield Bobcats second with 252 at the Jeff Rouse Swim & Sport Center in Stafford.

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Sports

Wakefield was happy to host region-tourney basketball title games

By Dave Facinoli
The South Lakes boys celebrate in the Wakefield gym (photo by Dave Facinoli)

Having successfully hosted the girls and boys 6D North Region tournament-championship basketball games on Feb. 28, Wakefield High School is eager to do the same next season.

The title contests were at 6 p.m. for the girls between the Langley Saxons and Oakton Cougars, followed by the 8 p.m. boys tilt, with the South Lakes Seahawks and Westfield Bulldogs facing off.

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Sports

O’Connell boys basketball team finishes second in state tourney

By Dave Facinoli
O'Connell gathers during a timeout (photo by Dave Facinoli)

As the fourth seed, the Bishop O’Connell Knights made a big impact by playing three tight games and finishing a close second in the Division I private-school boys state basketball tournament.

The Knights (23-10) lost in overtime to the No. 2 seed Highland School Hawks of Warrenton, 56-51, in the Saturday (March 1) championship game at Benedictine College Prep in Richmond.

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Sports

Marymount falls in overtime in conference-tourney title game

By Dave Facinoli
The Marymount team huddles (courtesy of Marymount athletics)

A quest for a third straight conference-tournament championship ended with a disappointing overtime loss in the title game for the Marymount University Saints men’s basketball team.

Second-seeded Marymount (17-10) lost that road contest in the Atlantic East Conference final to the host and top seed Neumann University Knights, 83-77, to end the Saints’ season.

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Sports

Three Arlington hoop coaches have more than 1,300 combined wins

By Dave Facinoli
Tony Bentley has 395 career wins (photo by Dave Facinoli)

The 2024-25 boys high school basketball season ended with three longtime head coaches of Arlington teams having a combined lifetime victory total of 1,304 games.

Of the three, Joe Wootten of the Bishop O’Connell Knights has the most career wins with 558. Those are the most victories by any O’Connell boys basketball coach in program history.

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Sports

As always, expectations are lofty for O’Connell’s softball team

By Dave Facinoli
The 2025 O'Connell softball team (courtesy of O'Connell athletics)

Considering its vast past success over many years, lofty expectations are the case every season for the Bishop O’Connell Knights girls softball team.

Nothing will be different this spring, with the high-school squad coming off a perfect 23-0 season, owning a three-season 54-game winning streak and having won a combined 15 straight conference and private-school state-tournament championships.

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Sports

Yorktown gymnast caps strong season at Class 6 state meet

By Dave Facinoli
Yorktown gymnast Anya Clemmer (courtesy of the Clemmer family)

Yorktown High School junior Anya Clemmer was the lone gymnast from Arlington to participate in the recent Virginia High School League Class 6 state competition.

The junior team captain competed in three individual events, finishing among the top 30 in each at Lake Braddock Secondary School.

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