For nearly 20 years, the Siegel Center in Richmond has hosted championship games of the Virginia High School League girls and boys state public-school basketball tournaments.

In that time, the Wakefield Warriors boys varsity team has been the only squad from Arlington to ever participate in any of those contests.

Wakefield has played in that venue, the home of the Virginia Commonwealth University basketball teams, multiple times. The most recent was when the Warriors lost in the Class 5 state final to the Varina Blue Devils of Richmond, 64-60, in the 2017-18 season.

“That’s one place we always want to get,” Wakefield coach Tony Bentley has said about playing in the Siegel Center.

Every season it’s a goal of all six public-school varsity coach in Arlington to reach the Siegel Center. But for seven straight years now none have.

The Washington-Liberty Generals have come the closest since Wakefield’s state-final appearance. The boys team played in the Class 6 state tournament twice, losing close first-round games in 2019-20 and 2021-22 to the eventual state champions.

(First-round meets typically are held on the home court of the higher-seeded team. Before Covid, semifinal contests were held at the Siegel Center; since the pandemic, higher-seeded teams host them.)

The Wakefield boys have not returned to the state tournament since 2017-18, falling a win short in the 2023-24 season.

The Yorktown High boys were hopeful to reach the state tourney this past season, but fell one win short as well, losing in the 6D North Region tournament semifinals. The region’s top two teams earn state berths.

On the girls side, neither Wakefield, Washington-Liberty nor Yorktown have ever played in the modern-day state tournament or reached the Siegel Center.

Yorktown has come the closest in recent years, losing in the region semifinals in 2021-22 to the Langley Saxons.

Washington-Liberty had hopes of a state berth this past season, but the Generals lost to Chantilly in a first-round region-tourney contest.

Looking ahead to next winter, it may be a longshot, but both W-L and Yorktown teams probably will have the best potential to earn a Siegel Center berth.