Top 100: Mia Hamm, Lake Braddock, Soccer, 1989
The Lake Braddock grad handled the pressure of national and global recognition with grace.
She is a household name. Across the globe, girls who play soccer strive to be her, while female athletes who play other sports look up to her. Mia Hamm is the face of women's soccer and an advocate of women's sports.
Top 100: Tommy Amaker, Woodson, Basketball, 1983
It was mind over body for the former Woodson basketball standout, as his career took him to the top of college basketball as a player and a coach.
Teamwork and defensive brilliance defined the high school and college basketball careers of Tommy Amaker, a 1983 Woodson grad. His basketball mind took him from Woodson to Duke as a player, and from Duke to Seton Hall to the University of Michigan as a coach.
Top 100: Hubert Davis, Lake Braddock, Basketball, 1988
Radiant personality and hard work led the former Bruin to a 12-year career in the NBA.
According to his high school basketball coach, Mike Wells, Hubert Davis came into Lake Braddock more highly skilled than most players leave the school.
Top 100: Keith Burns, T.C. Williams Football, 1990
It almost seems as if Keith Burns of the Denver Broncos has been playing in the NFL forever. Well, the fact is, by NFL standards where a players' average playing career is about four years, he practically has been.
Top 100: Andy Heck, Woodson Football, 1985
After intimidating teams in the Northern Region, Heck went on to win an NCAA title and played 12 years in the NFL.
After he finished terrorizing the opposing teams' players in the Northern Region, Andy Heck spread his terror onto the top-program college stadiums across the nation. The 1985 Woodson grad's name is still spoken in reverence in the local football circles.
Top 100: Sharif Karie, West Springfield, Track, 1997
Running away from a war zone in Somalia to running to titles in the U.S.
Twelve individual state titles, three team titles and two relay titles start to explain just how good of a runner Sharif Karie was. Add to that the fact that he didn't spend his entire high school career in Virginia, and he gets a little better.
Top 100: Dave Koesters, West Springfield, Basketball, 1974
Over the three years that Dave Koesters spent playing basketball at West Springfield, the Spartans went 72-6. The 1974 graduate led the team to three straight region titles and two state championship games before heading to the University of Virginia.
Top 100: Gerry Bertier, T.C. Williams, Football, 1972
Gerry Bertier was one of the best players and leaders on a team known as perhaps the best in the history of Virginia high school football — the 1971 T.C. Williams Titans.
Top 100: Ratcliff Thomas, T.C. Williams Football, 1992
Ratcliff Thomas was a standout player on the University of Maryland football team and spent several years in the NFL for the Indianapolis Colts.
Top 100: Michelle Griglione, T.C. Williams Swimming, 1986
World class swimmer Griglione fondly recalls her one season swimming as a Titan.
Swimmer Michelle Griglione — a perennial national team member from 1984 through '96, four-time Olympic trials competitor and a former NCAA champion — had so many wonderful accomplishments and moments throughout her illustrious swimming career.
Top 100: Ashley McCulloch, Woodson LAX, 2005
With 37 seconds left to go in the 2002 lacrosse state final, Woodson was losing by a goal to Rockbridge County. The Cavaliers would equal the score, and go on to win the state championship in overtime, thanks to a champion effort on the part of Ashley McCulloch, a freshman.
Top 100: Tiombe' Hurd, West Potomac, Track, 1992
Former Wolverine star made U.S. Olympic squad on third try in 2004.
West Potomac High track and field star Tiombe' Hurd had to be talked into trying out for the Wolverines' squad as a sophomore. "She did not come out as a freshmen," said former West Potomac High head track coach Don Beeby, in a 2004 story on the former Olympian.
Top 100 Val Brown, Lee, Basketball, 1999
The scoring machine from R.E. Lee barely missed out on becoming the first freshman to lead the nation in scoring in NCAA Division I play.
The coaches who remember the high school basketball player with an unusual name say he was impossible to mark. Living up to his name, SirValiant Brown broke down all kinds of defenses.
Top 100: Willie Pile, West Potomac, Football, 1998
Willie Pile, second year member of the Dallas Cowboys, can only marvel at how far the game of football has taken him in such a short time. He only first began playing as a high school freshman back in 1994 at West Potomac High School in Alexandria.
Top 100: Mary Yarrison, Diving, Lee 2003
The four-time high school state champion returned from injuries to continue a stellar diving career collegiately, nationally and internationally.
When she won her third diving state championship in 2002, Mary Yarrison walked away from the meet with a hint of anger. She may have won three state championships in three years, she was only a junior, but she didn't have the record yet.