<b>Perryman a Coach, Too</b>
During the final round of the Northern Region wrestling tournament this past Saturday at Fairfax High School, Robinson junior Roman Perryman became a part-time coach.
Following his 4-0 win over Westfield’s Kyle Arnold, the 135-pound Perryman knelt near the corner of the mat and shouted instructions to his friend and former training partner, 140-pound Ross Renzi of Lake Braddock.
Renzi eventually suffered a 3-2 loss to Jefferson’s Mike Howard but not before Perryman did his best impersonation of Bryan Hazard, the Rams’ actual head coach.
“I always like cheering on my friends,” said Perryman, whose team finished second to Westfield, 220.5-198. “I feel like I can help them … if they can hear me.”
Robinson’s other first-place finisher Saturday was 103-pound Jake Smith, who kick-started the final set of matches with a 1-0 victory of Anthony Kotoriy of Langley. Next up for Robinson is the Virginia AAA state meet at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake.
“I thought I wrestled well, almost to the best of my ability,” said Smith, who has now won district and regional titles as a freshman. “It’s just another stepping stone to where I really want to be, winning states next week.”
<b>Robinson Gymnasts Fourth in Region</b>
Thanks to a third-place effort from freshman Amanda Famiglietti, the Robinson girls gymnastics team had its most satisfying performance of the season at last Thursday’s Northern Region championships.
Famiglietti, who finished second to Chantilly’s Elly Taura in the all-around competition at the Concorde District meet on Feb. 5, took fourth on vault (9.450), third on bars (9.250), second on the balance beam (9.300) and 20th on floor (8.575).
Her total of 36.575 points trailed only Emily Parillo of Lake Braddock (37.525) and Taura (37.675). Famiglietti will advance to this weekend’s Virginia AAA state finals at West Potomac.
As a team, Robinson finished fourth with a total score of 136.000, trailing Stone Bridge, Lake Braddock and first-place Chantilly, which won its first region title since 2000 with 144.250 points.
“We had a great night,” Smiley said. “It was the best meet of our season. We just came out there trying to do our best, and we hit all of our routines.”
<b>South County Swim Shorts</b>
At Oak Marr RECenter Saturday night, Feb. 14, for the Northern Region swim and dive championships, the South County girls team finished 13th with 91 points and the boys took 20th with a total of 32 points. Leading the girls team was freshman MacKenzie Walsh, who scored a total of 25 points; classmate Michael Herrman led the boys with 17. Walsh took sixth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 14.36 seconds, and later finished seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.46). She also swam the anchor leg on South County’s eighth-place 400 freestyle relay team (3:43.98), which also included Alison Smith, Jasmine Arzadon and Courtney Walsh. Herrman, a week after winning a Patriot District title in the 100 butterfly, was seventh in the 100 backstroke (53.76). Both MacKenzie Walsh and Herrman will advance to this weekend’s Virginia AAA state meet at George Mason University.
<b>Stallion Grapplers Take Third</b>
Despite not having an individual region champion, the South County wrestling team took third place at this past weekend’s Northern Region wrestling tournament. The Stallions, led by a second-place effort from 152-pound Patrick Fitzgerald, totaled 139 points — 81.5 less than first-place Westfield. South County was also helped by fourth-place finishes from Kyle Sanders (130) and Arash Katirai (171), while Patrick Shaffer (103), Matt Cook (119), Weston Lahr (125), Matt Gibson (135), John Fitzgerald (145) and Chris Kichinko (215) were all fifth. Patrick Fitzgerald, Sanders and Katirai will advance to this weekend’s Virginia AAA state tournament at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake.