The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are officially underway in Italy, with the opening ceremony unfolding this afternoon (Friday).
For Fairfax County viewers, eyes will be particularly fixed in the coming days on two local athletes: figure skater Ilia Malinin — a 2023 Marshall High graduate who still lives in Vienna and trains at Reston’s SkateQuest — and speedskater Brandon Kim, a 2020 Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology making his Olympic debut.
Vienna leaders are taking a stand against the latest proposal to come out of Fairfax County Public Schools’ systemwide boundary review.
The Vienna Town Council unanimously approved a resolution on Monday (Oct. 27) opposing a boundary adjustment that would assign an estimated 91 students within the town’s limits to Marshall High School in Idylwood instead of the local James Madison High School.
With a talented lineup, it appeared less a matter of “if” the McLean Highlanders would win the Liberty District girls gymnastics championship.
It was more likely a question of “by how much?”
Scoring a modest number of points in their basketball games — but allowing even fewer — has proved a winning formula for the Marshall Statesmen.
Through Friday (Jan. 31) action, the boys high-school team owned a 13-7 overall record and a second-place mark of 5-4 in the Liberty District.
Girls wrestling continues growing as a high-school sport in Northern Virginia, and the Langley Saxons recently won the initial Liberty District tournament.
With four individual champions, Langley won with 121.5 points. The Marshall Statesmen were second (102 points), the McLean Highlanders third (58) and the host Herndon Hornets (52) fourth.
A contest-within-the-contest played out Monday (Jan. 13) when the Wakefield Warriors hosted the Marshall Statesmen in Liberty District boys basketball action.
The game feature a battle-of-the-big men showdown between 6-foot-6 senior centers Kooper Odar of Wakefield and Anderson Krisko of Marshall.
As occurs frequently when they meet, the Marshall Statesmen and Wakefield Warriors played another of those low-scoring, physical boys basketball games that more closely resembled a hard-checking NHL playoff match.
Host Wakefield won the Jan. 13 Liberty District seesaw high-school contest, 35-34, when Marshall’s Osteen Fraser missed a baseline jump shot at the buzzer.
Runners for the Marshall Statesmen were successful at two different track-and-field meets this past weekend, helping the girls and boys teams win titles at one of the competitions.
Marshall won championships at the high-school meet among Fairfax County teams at Thomas Jefferson Community Center in Arlington. The girls won with 86 points and the boys with 82.
With a new head coach and young basketball team, some early-season ups and downs were expected for the Marshall Statesmen.
A high point was the second-place finish at the recent Mount Vernon Holiday Classic for the girls high school team.
The district they now play in has changed in recent years, but not the annual rivalry for first place in boys basketball between the Marshall Statesmen and Wakefield Warriors.
The high-school teams are members of the Liberty District for the fourth straight season, and are expected to be contenders for first.
