Eight players from Fairfax County high schools were members of the Hampden-Sydney College football team during the fall season.
Three of the players were significant contributors for the Division III Virginia team that finished with a 5-5 overall record and 3-4 in conference play.
With two wrestlers finishing 5-0 and four 4-1, the Lake Braddock Bruins finished second at the 10-team Highlander Duals competition at McLean High School.
The Battlefield Bobcats of Prince William County finished first with a 5-0 record at the 10-team Saturday (Jan. 18) event. Lake Braddock was second with a 4-1 record, losing to the Bobcats, 57-18.
She isn’t the prolific scorer like in high school, but Elizabeth Dufrane is still a significant point producer in women’s college basketball.
The McLean High School graduate is a starting senior guard for the Division III Roger Williams University team in Rhode Island. Through 13 games this season, Dufrane is the Hawks’ second-leading scorer, averaging 11 points per game and 4.4 rebounds.
The process took longer and became more involved than hoped, but Ivan Maric eventually achieved his goal of becoming a place-kicker in college football.
The McLean High School graduate was the starting kicker during the 2024 season for the Division III University of Mount Union football team (14-1) in Alliance, Ohio — a squad that finished second in the NCAA playoffs.
The West Springfield Spartans continued their strong start to the wrestling season with a second victory at a big invitational high-school meet.
The squad’s most recent title came at the 58-team Battle at the Bridge event Dec. 27-28 at Woodbridge High School. The Spartans won with 228 points, having seven wrestlers finish in the top eight.
Boys volleyball players from three different district-championship squads in Fairfax County recently were chosen to Virginia High School League Class 6 all-state teams.
From the Liberty District and region-champion McLean Highlanders team, senior Evan Li made the first team and senior Luke Cowan was selected to the second.
The McLean Highlanders certainly have played a difficult basketball schedule so far this season, and the experienced girls team has a 4-2 overall record to show for its efforts.
Among the high-school squad’s victories, the Highlanders have defeated defending Virginia High School League Class 4 state champion Woodgrove along with recent four-time defending Class 6 state champion Madison, as well as defeating perennially strong West Springfield.
For each of the past two seasons, the McLean Highlanders have been dominating and undefeated in winning boys volleyball championships.
And they have done so at two different levels of competition.
McLean High School held its 2024 Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony last week, announcing six new inductees during halftime of the Nov. 8 home football game against the Langley Saxons.
The new McLean members are David Daido, Susan South, Alexander Weatherbee, Donald Weatherbee, Ayanna Alexander and Sam Clark.
After being elsewhere for a year, the Rotary Cup is back in possession of the Langley Saxons.
Langley (8-2, 4-2) reclaimed the neighborhood hardware by blanking the host McLean Highlanders, 38-0, on Friday night (Nov. 8) in the final regular-season football game for both Liberty District high school teams.
