Yorktown High School graduate Lauren Hartel had a strong freshman season for the women’s swimming team at Ohio University.
She was especially a standout at the recent Mid American Conference championships, where Hartel swam personal-best times in freestyle races of different distances, winning one.
Hartel won the 1650 freestyle in 16:35.18, which was a personal best by 23 seconds. She was third in the 500 free (4:49.63) in a seven-second best time, and placed 12th in the 200 free (1:49.92), bettering her previous best by 1.5 seconds.
The 800 freestyle relay Hartel was a member of placed fourth.
As a result of her performance this winter, Hartel was chosen first-team all-conference and was named the conference’s women’s Freshman Swimmer of the Year.
Hartel was a standout swimmer at Yorktown, as well as during the summer in the Northern Virginia Swimming League for Arlington’s Division 1 Overlee Flying Fish team.
She was the captain of the 2022 Yorktown team. During her four years with the squad she helped Yorktown win district, region and state championships.
AJIA JAMES: Bishop O’Connell High School graduate Ajia James played in 29 games and started 14 this past season for the Elon University women’s basketball team.
The junior forward averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. She made 36 three-point shots, had 34 assists, 17 steals and blocked four shots.
James averaged 4.7 points per games last season for Elon and made 24 three-pointers.
As a freshman, James played in 28 games and averaged 8.6 points and 8.1 rebounds a contest for St. Peter’s University.
LIZ SHEAN: Through 31 games so far this season for the Boston University women’s basketball team, Yorktown High School graduate Liz Shean was averaging 2.8 points per contest.
The senior guard had grabbed 45 rebounds, had 13 assists and seven steals in helping the team to a 24-7 record. Shean made three three-pointers in Boston University’s victory over Army and she had three rebounds in an NCAA-tournament playoff game.
For her college career, Shean has played in 72 games, has scored 283 points and made 28 three-pointers. As a junior, Shean was chosen as the team’s most improved player.
At Yorktown, Shean scored 992 career points, but was injured and missed most of her senior season, missing a chance to score 1,000 career points.
ALYSSA HYASHI: As a sophomore guard for the Swarthmore College women’s basketball team this season, Bishop O’Connell High School graduate and sophomore guard Alyssa Hyashi was the second-leading scorer, averaging 10.4 points per game. She led the squad in steals with 63.
Hyashi also had 40 assists, made 29 three-pointers and averaged four rebounds per game. She started 25 games.
ABBY KOHAN: Wakefield High School graduate Abby Kohan had thrown eight innings on the mound, and as a hitter had 14 at-bats, for the Dickinson College women’s softball team during the early portion of the 2022 spring season.
The freshman right-hander had two strikeouts with just one walk through those eight innings. With the bat, Kohan had two hits, including a double, and had three RBI.
MAIKYA SIMMONS: Bishop O’Connell High School graduate Maikya Simmons averaged 11.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game as a junior guard for the Life University women’s basketball team in Georgia this season. She played in 17 games and started 15 of those contests.
Simmons had 46 assists, 34 steals and she blocked two shots.
TORRI HUSKE: Yorktown High School graduate Torri Huske won three individual races and was on four winning relays for the Stanford University women’s swimming team during the squad’s recent conference championships.
In two seasons for Stanford, the sophomore and past U.S. Olympic swimmer has won all 14 of the races she has participated in during conference-championship meets.
O’CONNELL BOYS BASKETBALL GRADUATES: Bishop O’Connell High School graduates Paul Lewis (Vanderbilt University), Cavan Reilly (University of Delaware) and Christian May (Towson University) have all earned significant playing time in their freshman seasons for Division I men’s college basketball teams.
Lewis had played in 31 games, Reilly in 29 and May in 21.
Lewis was averaging some 3.1 points per game and had made 13 three-pointers, Reilly was averaging 5.4 points with 34 three-poiners made, and May averaged four points per game and had hit 20 threes.
