Reaching state tournaments this spring season was something familiar for one Yorktown High School team, but a new experience for a second.
Getting there marked a first for the girls softball team, but was old hat for the previous state-champion boys lacrosse squad.
The 70th annual Better Sports Club of Arlington awards banquet honored high school student-athletes, along with their coaches and boosters, for successes during the 2025-26 school year.
More than 30 high school seniors received awards for their overall excellence during competition, in the classroom and in the community.
They had hoped to win a couple of more championships instead of having runner-up finishes. Yet, the Yorktown Patriots still achieved a high-water mark by reaching the championship games of the maximum three post-season girls high-school soccer tournaments this spring.
The most recent was the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state tournament final June 13 in Ashburn. Yorktown lost that game, 1-0, on a late goal off a corner kick to the Independence Tigers on their home field.
It was close, but Yorktown High School multiple-sport student-athlete Kaiya Ovando made it with a bit of time to spare.
With many anxiously following her progress, Ovando successfully participated in two different championship high-school sporting events at venues hours apart on Friday, June 5.
Arlington high-school track-and-field teams included one event winner, one runner-up and other top-10 finishers at the season-ending Class 6 girls and boys state meets.
The winner was Yorktown Patriots’ senior discus thrower Kaiya Ovando at the Virginia High School League event, held June 5-6 in Newport News. Her throw was a personal best and school record mark of 134 feet, 7 inches to win the girls event.
Old habits changed for the Yorktown Patriots when it came to winning a region soccer championship.
The last four times the Yorktown Patriots competed in the 6D North Regional girls soccer championship game, the squad came away with the title.
The Yorktown Patriots have continued as heavy hitters in postseason boys lacrosse action this spring.
With the campaign-ending state tournament still to come, the high-school team already has won a sixth straight Liberty District tourney, followed by finishing second in the 6D North Region competition for the second year in a row and third time overall.
Behind the standout performance of a talented freshman and the help of her many teammates, the Yorktown Patriots made history in girls softball.
The high-school team won the Liberty District tournament for the first time when the third-seeded Patriots edged the host and top-seed Langley Saxons, 2-1 in extra innings, in the May 28 championship game.
Through three seasons, the Marymount University Saints’ flag football team remains perfect in postseason play.
The Division III women’s team finished the spring campaign with a 4-0 playoff record that included winning two postseason tournaments. Coupled with the last two years, the Saints now own an 8-0 playoff mark.
Arlington’s three public high-school crew teams saw significant highlights during the two prestigious season-ending out-of-town regattas.
The most notable performance was that of the Yorktown Patriots boys varsity eight shell.
Jimmy Carrasquillo continues to establish himself as the most accomplished public-school soccer coach in Arlington.
The longtime coach of the Washington-Liberty Generals boys team recently earned his 300th career victory. The breakthrough came May 19, when the host Generals blanked the Marshall Statesmen, 5-0, in a Liberty District tournament-semifinal match.
The team’s first-year head coach compared the second straight outdoor track-and-field girls championship of the Washington-Liberty Generals to a puzzle.
The Generals convincingly won the Liberty District high-school title with 136 points at Wakefield High School, well ahead of the runner-up Langley Saxons with 86.
