Recently The Washington Post announced it would end local sports coverage. While sports coverage of high schools by newspapers has been waning for some time, perhaps the most troubling part of The Washington Post’s announcement was that there would no longer be an “All-Met” section. The newspaper’s All-Met teams have been a staple of DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia for years, a prestigious honor for high school athletes and something sports fans always looked forward to.
Fortunately Marc Stern of Capitol Hoops decided to keep the tradition going, at least for basketball. He asked other local basketball media, to include former sports writers from The Washington Post, to join him in soliciting input from area coaches to select the All-Met basketball teams for 2025-2026. Graciously SPARC, a sports training facility in Beltsville, MD, agreed to sponsor the endeavor and host a photo shoot.
Now the selections have been made. Northern Virginia took home some prestigious honors. Guard Jordan Smith, Jr. of Paul VI, who will play at Arkansas next year, was voted Boys Player of the Year. Smith averaged 25.1 ppg on the season, along with six rebounds and over five assists per game. Westfield Coach Kevin Harris was named Boys Coach of the Year. His Bulldogs won the VHSL Class 6 state title and only lost one time all year–to Paul VI. It was Harris’ third career state title.
On the girls side, no one from Northern Virginia won Player of the Year or Coach of the Year, but Key Rainey of Osbourn Park was voted First Team All-Met for the second consecutive season. In both those seasons, Rainey led the Yellow Jackets to VHSL Class 6 state titles.
Northern Virginia honors:
Boys
Player of the Year: Jordan Smith, Jr. Paul VI
Coach of the Year: Kevin Harris, Westfield
First Team: Darius Bivins, O’Connell; Lawrence “Turk” Brown, Paul VI
Second Team: Jemon Price, Westfield
Third Team: Elijah Gaskins, Patriot; Frank Siaca-Bey, Fairfax Christian
Fourth Team: Silas Devonish, Bishop Ireton; Ryan Brzezanski, Broad Run
Girls
First Team: Key Rainey, Osbourn Park; Sabrina Anderson, Potomac School
Second Team: Demi Gilliam, Paul VI
Third Team: Laila Tull, South County; Sophie Toole, Oakton
Fourth Team: Alyssa Stanford, Heritage; Nina McEldon, Bishop Ireton
Dozens other Northern Virginia players made Honorable Mention. You can view the full teams below:
Press conferences below: