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“Last one, fast one,” Arioti said.
The Harvard commit broke the 200-yard individual medley record by more than three seconds, finishing in 1 minute 43.58 seconds. When he finished, he immediately shifted his eyes to the scoreboard, smacking the water with a ferocity that encapsulated his dominant high school career.
Arioti also holds the Metros record for the 100 butterfly. He said this stretch of swimming is his fastest in the past four years.
One of the more accomplished D.C.-area swimmers of the past decade — he was last winter’s All-Met Swimmer of the Year — Arioti was given the Frank Martin Award for Outstanding Performance on Saturday. The record means less to Arioti than achieving a milestone he set out for. Having your name inscribed in history is great, but the process of achieving it is what Arioti values, he said.
“Records are meant to be broken,” Arioti said.
Last year, Edison was the runner-up in its region. After losing some key seniors, Coach Scott Racek wasn’t sure what was in store for 2024. But once the team began to find success in midseason tournaments, a championship started to seem like a distinct possibility.
On Thursday, Edison’s team score of 234 was just enough to scrape past host Fairfax’s mark of 233 for the Virginia Class 6 Region C crown. Robinson (223) and West Springfield (210) were also in the mix until the end.
“I give all the credit to the boys,” Racek said. “They did all the work. They’re a great team. They hang out with each other on and off the mat, and something clicked in their minds that they were going to make this something special.”
Despite having just one individual champion — Colin Jackson at 150 pounds — the Eagles were able to claim the team title with their depth. Shan Kolb, who missed last year’s event with a torn rotator cuff, was a finalist among the 113-pounders, and six other Edison wrestlers finished third.
“After the semifinals, I thought we would have three in the finals, but we had just two. … We dropped from first place to fourth place, and at that point I thought, ‘The dream is gone,’ ” Racek said. “And then we came through in the consolation semifinals and finals to capture a bunch of those points. … Those really helped us get over the top.”
Ahead of this weekend’s state championships, four other teams in The Post’s coverage area won Virginia region titles: Chantilly (Class 6 Region D), Independence (Class 5 Region D), Woodgrove (Class 4 Region C) and Brentsville District (Class 3 Region B).
Woodson sophomore Ari Smith broke her hand last winter, sidelining her for the entirety of what should have been her first high school gymnastics season. She entered this year fully healthy — and earned a trip to the state championship.
Smith finished first on bars at the Class 6 Region C meet Feb. 5. She was the only gymnast outside of Lake Braddock to win an event. Woodson and Lake Braddock practice together, and many of their top talents share close relationships that go beyond gymnastics.
“Having one of our own win was just so exciting,” Woodson Coach Shelby Landay said. “[Lake Braddock’s] Madi Bell and Abby Parrish were all cheering for Ari, too. Gymnastics especially, everyone just cheers each other on no matter what.”
But Smith, like many of Virginia’s top gymnasts, won’t compete at the state championship this week because the Excalibur Cup, which attracts a slew of college recruits as one of the region’s premier club meets, is on the same weekend (and also in Virginia Beach). It’s the day of the individual portion of the state championship, so gymnasts on teams that advanced to states — such as Bell and Lake Braddock — will be able to compete. But for Smith and other individuals, they were forced to choose and will be absent.
“It’s just a meet they cannot miss,” Landay said. “Her mom and I talked about it, and she was so upset. But for her actual gymnastics career, it’s smarter for her to go.”
Bullis sophomore Quincy Wilson continues to break records.
He recorded the top time in the country this season and the best-ever mark by a sophomore in the 200-meter sprint (21.02 seconds) on Feb. 3 — the first of three U.S. No. 1 times he would be a part of in just nine days.
Junior Morgan Rothwell added her first U.S. No. 1 time in the 500-meter race — 1:12.97 — last week to help the Bulldogs grab four U.S. No. 1 times over that nine-day stretch at the East Coast Invitational in Virginia Beach on Feb. 3 and the Millrose Games in New York on Sunday.
Wilson was a member of the Bulldogs’ 4×400-meter relay alongside Colin Abrams, Julian Roberson and Alexander Lambert that recorded a nation-best 3:16.77 last week before he ran the second-best high school time ever in the 600-meter race Sunday, finishing in 1:17.36 at the Armory.
“There are no barriers for him,” Coach Joe Lee said. “He loves to run, and he loves to compete.”
The Bulldogs hold the top time in the country in eight events this year. They also boast a U.S. No. 2 time in three events, per Athletic.net.
Wilson has played a role in five of Bullis’s U.S. No. 1 times, owning the top marks in the 200-meter, 500-meter and 600-meter races and running for the Bulldogs’ 4×400-meter relay team. Wilson and Abrams, who holds the top time in the 1,000-meter race, also broke the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay national record in January with Matthew Goines and Cameron Homer.
After nine weeks of dominating the Northern Virginia School Hockey League, defending champion Langley geared up for its toughest test of the season against Chantilly/McLean on Friday.
Both teams were undefeated, and the Saxons knew they would have to find a way to shut down an aggressive offense. They did in a 5-3 win that led them into the postseason, where they start with a bye.
Senior center Noah Scheinerman had two early goals to build momentum for his team.
“We were a little jittery. It was pretty energetic outside the glass, and it was a big game,” he said. “I was just on a breakaway, and I found the corner [of the net]. It got the boys going, and it definitely set the tone, I feel like, for the game.”
Building off that early energy, the Saxons (10-0) were forced to respond as Chantilly/McLean found opportunities to trade goals in the second period. For Scheinerman, it was the biggest challenge in a season that included several comfortable wins. Careful not to take that kind of dominance for granted, he said the Saxons’ desire to maintain their 30-game winning streak, which has lasted since Scheinerman’s sophomore year, was ignited during that battle.
“We can get complacent as a team,” he said. “Everyone’s looking to take us down, and they have a little bit more of their foot on the gas pedal. But we have to find ways to come out with a win and just learn from every game.”
Heading into the third period with his team ahead by one, Scheinerman sent a shot through traffic and scored again to notch a hat trick and put the game away.
With the addition of Bishop O’Connell, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference has expanded from three teams to four, which makes for a tidy league tournament.
In the semifinals, St. John’s hosts St. Mary’s Ryken on Tuesday before O’Connell hosts Holy Cross on Wednesday — a departure from last year’s format, in which the No. 1 seed received an automatic spot in the championship game.
“[We] want to keep continuing to grow the girls’ sport in this area,” St. John’s Coach David Sauer said. “I think it’s a really good thing for everybody to have two championships to push toward. It just creates a lot more excitement for the girls.”
In O’Connell’s debut season as a full-fledged varsity program, Coach Geoff Rixon said he was “grateful” the Knights get the opportunity to compete for a title. Coaches and players hope the expansion of girls’ hockey in the WCAC continues.
“The more teams that join, the better it is,” said St. John’s senior Isabelle Fontana, who drew on her experience playing other sports for the Cadets. “This is an uphill [movement], and it’s not plateauing anytime soon.”
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