For such an early-season cross country race, Robbie Jenkins and Lila Waters ran faster than expected in finishing second at the annual Monroe Parker Invitational.

In non-league high-school football games Sept. 10 and 11, four local teams won and three were defeated.

Below are standings after the first week of action for teams in the Northern Virginia Senior Softball League for the 2021 fall season.

For years, the Flint Hill Huskies and Potomac School Panthers have been one another’s biggest local high-school football rivals in many ways.

The third week of the high-school football season for local teams this weekend is unique because none of the squads in the Sun Gazette’s coverage areas are playing district or conference opponents.

Over the years, four NFL Hall of Fame players, and perhaps five, have had connections to the Potomac School Panthers varsity football team of McLean.

Madison High School baseball coach Mark Gjormand recently was named the Division I Region II Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Months later, Samantha Gjormand is finally getting fully unpacked and is settling into a welcome routine.

It was a frustrating loss for the Potomac School Panthers in their Sept. 4 season-opener, because the football team played well enough to win in some areas, not so much in others.

* After a seesaw early portion of play when the host McLean Highlanders had a couple of seven-point leads, the Marshall Statesmen eventually began dominating with their potent running attack to pull away and win the Liberty District high-school football game, 46-14, Sept. 2.

Even with losing multiple key players to injuries, the Langley Saxons continued to play and try hard, and held a slight lead for a while against the host Fairfax Lions.

The schedule already has been set for the 2022 Northern Virginia Swimming League summer season.

That maroon-covered and a bit scraped and bruised baseball scorebook that was used by the Sun Gazette staff in recent weeks unfortunately has been stored away for the coming fall and winter.

After playing just a mere three games combined during the past year because of the COVID situation, the Flint Hill Huskies and Potomac School Panthers high-school football teams are poised to play a full schedule this fall, slated to kick off with Sept. 3 and 4 contests.

DANNY HOSLEY: Langley High School graduate Danny Hosley was chosen as the baseball Player of the Year in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference for his performance for the Division I Norfolk State University teams this past spring.

The host and young (only two returning starters) McLean Highlanders were blanked by West Potomac, 30-0, in their Aug. 27 season opener in non-district high-school football action. McLean trailed 10-0 at halftime.

McLean resident Georgia Thompson, 8, placed fourth in the javelin and 11th in the long jump in the 8-under girls age division at the recent AAU Junior Olympics in Houston.

With tough running from Nakia Wilson leading the offense and playing stingy and shutdown defense, the host Marshall Statesmen began their 2021 fall football season in the win column.

For Jack Hoeymans and Zach Perkins, their strong performances during this summer’s local Northern Virginia College League validated what the baseball players previously achieved during the spring’s collegiate campaign.

The memories of the previous football campaign are still very fresh in the minds of the Madison Warhawks and those involved with the high-school team.

When the Marshall Statesmen and Washington-Liberty Generals meet Friday, Aug. 27 in the opening game of the 2021 high-school football season, the contest will have added meaning.

The schedule already has been set for the 2022 Northern Virginia Swimming League summer season.

A number of local girls and boys divers recently earned All-America status from the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association for their one-meter performances during the different 2020-21 seasons on the high-school and summer levels.

An Oakton High School relay team recently placed fourth in the 4xMile boys event at the Outdoor National Championships in Eugene, Ore.

The scoring area, either outside or inside, always is the favorite gathering spot at high-school golf tournaments.

What now?

Led by triple race-winner Audrey McKeen and double winners Harrison Busteed and Caden Wilkinson, Vienna’s Westwood Country Club Whirlwinds had 11 first-place finishers overall at the recent Dominion Country Club League’s individual all-star swimming meet.

The end result was the same, but achieving another league swimming championship was a little harder this summer for Washington Golf & Country Club Lightning.