Preps Plus

If you find yourself walking down the halls at Western Albemarle High School this week don’t be surprised if you see more than a few student-athletes with their chests puffed out just a bit. Right now just about everyone who wears a Warriors uniform has something to be proud of.

Monday night the WAHS field hockey team went to Orange with an opportunity to clinch the Jefferson District title and took care of business, easily beating the Hornets to wrap up the regular season championship and claim a spot in the Region II playoffs. That marks the second district title clinched at Western in a week. The Warriors volleyball team continued its dominance of the JD with a 3-0 sweep of Monticello last Thursday, guaranteeing at least a tie for first place in the district. The Warriors have won the Jefferson District volleyball title in 10 of the past 11 years. The victory was especially sweet considering one of the Warriors three losses this season came to Monticello in September.

These two district titles came on the heels of the Western golf team finishing second in the state and in the midst of Western’s Mattie Webb continuing to dominate the competition on the cross country course. Webb recently beat the field by 36 seconds during the Albemarle Invitational at Panorama Farm, running the third-fastest time in course history in the process.

Even the Western Albemarle football team, which had been struggling a bit after a playoff appearance last year, had a fantastic week. The Warriors pulled off one of the Jefferson District’s bigger upsets of the year, hammering Monticello on Friday. It’s starting to come together for the Warriors football team, which improved to 3-4 and 2-2 in the district with the win. Abbot Wallenborn is playing well in his first year at quarterback, leading the Warriors to 447 yards of total offense on Friday, and defensive leader Mitchell Parks is getting healthy and showed what he is capable of wreaking havoc on the Mustangs offense.

Yeah, it’s been a good couple of weeks at Western and with the postseason coming up it might continue to get better.