All that remains on the winter high-school schedule for Arlington teams are state-championship events in a number of private- and public-school sports.
State competitions are ongoing in basketball, gymnastics, swimming/diving, track-and-field and wrestling.
The Bishop O’Connell Knights swimming and diving teams concluded their winter high-school seasons with third-place finishes at the recent Virginia private school state meet in Stafford.
The improvement in places from a year ago were significant for O’Connell, when the boys were eighth and the girls 16th.
There weren’t any individual champions, but there were notable performances from some young Bishop O’Connell Knights athletes at the private school indoor state track-and-field meet.
The O’Connell girls and boys high-school teams each finished 11th in the overall team standings.
This week’s high-school sports schedule is all about the winter playoffs remaining for some teams in Arlington.
Some gymnasts, wrestlers and swimmers/divers will be competing in Virginia High School League Class 6 state championship meets the next few days. The state track-and-field meet also is upcoming.
Some 80 members of the Bishop O’Connell High School swimming and diving team, and a few alumni, recently raised nearly $17,000 during a swim-a-thon for Area 26 Special Olympics.
The team significantly surpassed its fund-raising goal of $10,000 by collecting a total of $16,931.
There was at least one individual champion from three of the Arlington high-school teams at district and conference wrestling tournaments.
The Yorktown Patriots had the most winners, with two. The Wakefield Warriors and Washington-Liberty Generals had one each, with the highest finish from a Bishop O’Connell Knights grappler being second.
With the exception of a number of private-school basketball games, the winter regular-season sports schedule has been completed for Arlington varsity teams.
But the post-season competition is about to hit its stride.
Led by a speedy winning relay, the Bishop O’Connell Knights enjoyed a top finish in the biggest swimming-and-diving meet in the metro area for private high-school teams.
The Knights placed second with 501 points in the girls meet of the Washington Metropolitan Prep School Swim & Dive League (WMPSSDL) championships at the University of Maryland.
With a 3-0 record, the Washington-Liberty Generals won this season’s Arlington County wrestling meet between the jurisdiction’s four high-school teams.
The Generals defeated the Bishop O’Connell Knights, Yorktown Patriots and host Wakefield Warriors.
High-school postseason competitions will be underway over the coming week for all winter sports teams in Arlington, with the exception of girls and boys basketball.
The Liberty District wrestling tournament is on tap, along with region competitions for swimming and diving, gymnastics and track-and-field teams.
Maybe the word “traveling” should be added as part of the nickname for the Bishop O’Connell Knights boys basketball team.
Over many years, the varsity high-school squad often has traveled to far-flung tournaments as part of its regular-season schedule.
The Bishop O’Connell Knights certainly have been consistent with their finishes in postseason swimming and diving meets this winter.
Most recently, the high school girls and boys teams each placed third in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championships in Laurel, Md.
