This sunday, eight Whitman athletes received either first team, second team or honorable mention status on the Washington Post’s spring All-Met list, which awards athletes for excellence throughout the season.
The Washington Post has been creating “teams” for each sport at the end of each season since 1990, composed of the sport’s top athletes from Maryland, DC and Virginia schools. In addition, a handful of players who don’t obtain first or second team spots but perform exceptionally well throughout the season earn honorable mentions.
Golfer Graham Hutchinson, rower Monica McEwan and tennis player Evin Mcdonald made first team; pitcher Sean Cook made second team; tennis player Carina Greenberg, rowers Freya Keto and Mizuki Stone and gymnast Annie Burton earned honorable mentions. Each athlete had a different path to their success.
Evin Mcdonald was the only freshman to win the award—a very rare occurrence—as many do not attain All-Met status until their junior or senior year. Mcdonald secured a spot on the first team after a perfect 10–0 regular season with the undefeated boys tennis team.
“It’s a great accomplishment and it feels great knowing that I could achieve this award as a freshman,” Mcdonald said. “I’ve never had an experience like this, getting my picture taken and all; it was really cool.”
For junior Carina Greenberg, her state championship and nearly perfect season made her the perfect candidate for an honorable mention.
“This is definitely a great honor and I’m very surprised,” Greenberg said. “It feels good to be ranked alongside some of the top players in the area, since there are a lot of great players and competitors.”
This was rower Monica McEwan second year as an All-Met athlete, making the first team both her junior and senior year.
“When I got All-Met my junior year, I was so enthusiastic, excited, and emotional that I thought there was no way I could have the same reaction this year,” McEwan said. “This year, at first I tried to be the cool, nonchalant senior who knew the drill and wasn’t particularly affected by anything. But when a copy of the Post came in yesterday morning, I felt just as overwhelmed, grateful, and honored as I did the year before.”
McEwan, along with teammates and honorable mentions Keto and Stone, were all formidable members of the first varsity boat this season, leading the squad to a second place finish at the WMIRA national scholastic regatta.
Like McEwan and Stone, pitcher Sean Cook was able to close out his high school career with the award. Cook rounded off his season with a 1.73 ERA and a .351 batting average, and hopes to continue his baseball career as a walk-on at Maryland.
For the second year in a row, golfer Graham Hutchinson secured a spot on first team after ending his 2016 season as state runner-up. Hutchinson was a driving force in the Vikings’ impressive third place overall finish in the Maryland state tournament.
Junior gymnast Annie Burton received an honorable mention after a stellar season and a first place team finish in a meet against Blair. She, like many of the other All-Met athletes, cannot wait to continue to compete next year with even more strength and finesse.
“Being ranked alongside some of the best gymnasts in the area is pretty cool, because I used to do club gymnastics with most of them and it’s pretty rewarding to know that I still have some of the same skill level as them,” Burton said. “Even though I won this award as a junior, I still plan to do well senior year and I plan to try harder skills to increase our team’s score.”
