Sports (Page 27)

The swim and dive team is approaching the District championships on Jan. 27 and 28 following a historic win at the end of its regular season.

The team broke a four-year losing streak by beating South Lakes High School on Dec. 16 and followed it up with a win against McLean High School.

The current record is 3-3 with the team’s most recent win on the Jan. 13 against Stone Bridge High School on senior night.

The swim and dive team lost in a meet against Madison High School Friday. Scores were not available.

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Every team has its battles: the practices, the injuries and the daily juggle to balance school with sports. But unlike other sports teams, the indoor track team must overcome challenges unique to the season.

As one of the handful of winter sports available at Marshall, indoor track is handicapped by winter break early in the season. While it is possible for the team to plan around the break, the real issue is much more sporadic. Indoor track is the only winter sport to practice outside and is at the full mercy of the weather.

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This season’s boys varsity basketball team has made a substantial improvement from last year already having beaten last year’s final record with five wins and eight losses.

At this time last year, varsity’s record was three wins and ten losses and it finished the season with three wins and 20 losses.

Varsity basketball has not done this well since the 2009-2010 season finishing with a final record of 12 wins and ten losses.

This year’s team has more returning players than last year’s with five seniors compared to last year’s younger team of three seniors.

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Athletes win awards by showing extreme dedication in the sport they play, but head athletic trainer John Reynolds has won an award off of the field.

Reynolds received the second annual Vito Perriello Athletic Trainer of the Year for Secondary Schools Award from the Virginia Athletic Trainer Association on Jan. 14.

According to the VATA, the award is named after the late Vito Periello, a Virginia doctor who showed commitment and dedication toward his patients and is now in the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame.

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As a senior on the 2006 varsity boys’ basketball team, Daniel Dixon may not have known that, after hours of practice that led his team to the state finals, he would return to the basketball program as a coach for the 2011-2012 season.

Dixon, along with former teammate Qaiser Ahmed came back this year to coach, taking over the assistant freshman and assistant JV coaching positions, respectively.

Having on-the-court experience at the school, Dixon said, gives you “an understanding of who Marshall is.”

Ahmed also noted the benefits of coaching after experiencing the player’s role.

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The girls varsity basketball team lost to Fairfax High School with a score of 43-60 on Dec. 13, making the current team record 4-2.

Marshall started slow during the first quarter and trailed during the second quarter.

“We needed to talk more on defense,” junior Elyse Smith said.

The Statesmen played substantially better during the second half with senior Christine LaBarbera’s rebounding skills, two three-pointers and three more points for nine.

Junior Maggie MacDonnell, scored nine points with two threes.

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Gymnastics has a core group of returning athletes, but it also has new talent joining the team with varying amounts of gymnastics experience.

The “group has a lot of talent and depth stemming from their individual participation in the sport in the past at both the competitive and noncompetitive levels,” coach Sue Walton said.

“The first meet went well and helped the girls work out all their jitters,” Walton added. “We scored our highest team score [107.9] since I’ve been coaching, but have the potential to score much higher.”

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The varsity wrestling team won their first tournament of the winter season against Richmond area and local schools on Dec. 3 and went on to place tenth out of 32 in the annual NOVA Classic tournament on Dec. 9.

The team also won 49-21 and 47-24 against Lee and Edison high schools respectively on Dec. 14 in scrimmage matches. Junior Robert Gonzales said “we should have placed higher as a team” at the NOVA Classic tournament but “we had three weight classes where nobody wrestled.”

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