All Metro

Henry Sims, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound All-Metro center from Mount St. Joseph, committed orally to Georgetown over the weekend. "When I visited, I really appreciated coach [John] Thompson's honesty about getting to play right away," said Sims, who narrowed down his choices to Georgetown and Virginia from a list that included Boston College, Florida and Maryland. "Coach Thompson told me that if I worked hard, I would get a chance as a freshman." This past season, DaJuan Summers - a two-time All-Metro forward and The Sun's Player of the Year in 2005 - started as a freshman for the Hoyas, who reached the Final Four.

When Hun "Scooter" Monroe was promoted to John Carroll's varsity football squad as a skinny freshman, his coach, Bill Mackley, "guaranteed I'd go Division I if I kept my grades up and kept working on my talent," Monroe said."

The Sun's All-Metro special section will run Monday. It will feature the area's best athletes in football, boys soccer, girls soccer, field hockey, cross country and volleyball.

Some key athletes from area high schools will sign national letters of intent today, the start of the early signing period for football and several other sports.Leading the list of locals who will sign are: Patterson's All-Baltimore City/County running back-linebacker Michael Crawford; McDonogh's girls soccer All-American midfielder Marissa Schuchat; Loyola's All-Metro boys soccer midfielder Marcus Johnson; Centennial's two-time All-Metro volleyball player Lisa Chapman; and Severna Park's All-Metro field hockey player Sara Zuckerman.

AROUND THE AREAPRESEASON TOP 151. Bryn Mawr1998 record: 15-1-5Outlook: The team to beat in 1999, the co-Association of Independent Schools A Division champs are loaded with veterans, including All-Metro first-teamer Jen Ahn and second-teamers Carey Fetting-Smith and Katie Coyne. The Mawrtians are favored to win the first Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland title.2. Severna Park1998 record: 18-1Outlook: The perennially dominant Falcons won their second straight state Class 4A crown and their 11th overall last fall, and even though they lost 10 seniors, they should simply reload for another title run. Erin Shaklee and Nicki Barnes return to the line while Kim Lawton is back in goal.

All-Metro Defensive Player of the Year Felix Isuk, who led the No. 1 Gilman football team to the school's first 10-0 season, will attend Harvard, Greyhounds coach Biff Poggi said yesterday.Isuk, a two-time All-Metro choice and a preseason All-American in several publications, had 13 sacks for the Greyhounds, who were No. 1 in The Sun from the season's beginning to end. A consensus All-State pick by Association Press, Isuk turned down Princeton and full scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Duke and Virginia.

Longtime teammates Betsy Gaines and Meghan Kelly, who helped Roland Park's lacrosse team to a 22-0 season and the No. 1 ranking last spring, are among the high school seniors who plan to sign national letters of intent this week. Both are headed to North Carolina.Sixteen other lacrosse players -- 10 girls and six boys -- as well as two girls basketball players also announced they plan to sign during the early signing period, which begins today and runs through next Wednesday. Several others applied for early decision to Ivy League schools, and Loyola baseball player Steve Pyzik, a resident of Mount Airy, is signing with Clemson.

Jon Cole, McDonogh's two-time All-Metro soccer player, said yesterday that he has orally committed to a soccer scholarship with perennial NCAA power Virginia.A 3.0 student who scored 1,160 on his SAT, Cole, 18, turned down Maryland, Wake Forest, Duke and Georgetown. "I made all five of my official visits, and I just found that socially, academically and with their soccer program, Virginia was the best place for me," said Cole, who played stopper-center midfield.Cole, 6 feet, 175 pounds, had 43 goals and 39 assists for his career.

McDonogh All-Metro senior lacrosse players Owen Daly and Joe Rosenbaum said they have applied for early decision to attend Princeton, where they plan to play for the three-time defending NCAA champions.The duo joins Gilman's Damien Davis, an All-Metro defenseman, who announced last week that he had applied to Princeton.Daly, a member of U.S. under-19 lacrosse team, is considered by many Division I lacrosse coaches to be the nation's No. 1 midfield recruit. Rosenbaum, who last season was the only undergraduate from the MIAA A Conference to earn All-America honors, ranks with Davis as a top defensive recruit.

Bryn Mawr's Kim Smith, Fallston's Kate Simon and Hereford's Sarah Warner were among seven Maryland high school girls named regional All-Americans by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association last week.Smith and Simon, both seniors, are two-time All-Metro and All-State selections while Warner, a junior, was a second-team All-Metro and All-State pick in 1996. All three Junior Olympics veterans led their teams to league titles last fall.Four All-Metro players from Anne Arundel County also were selected to the NFHCA/Kwik Goal South Region team -- Chesapeake's Wendy Ison, the All-Metro Player of the Year, Archbishop Spalding's Malia Sweiconek and Severna Park's Sara Zuckerman and Krista Bowerman.

As the starting wide receiver for Arundel's No. 1 football team, R.J. Harris is one of the most prolific scorers in the state. He set state public school records for most receiving touchdowns in a career (44) and in a season (24) during the past two weeks as the Wildcats finished the regular season 10-0. The favorite target of All-Metro quarterback Billy Cosh, Harris has 88 receptions this season for 1,313 yards heading into Friday night's Class 4A East region semifinal at home against Annapolis.

Catonsville standout forward Peyton Johnson has incredible ball skills, 20-20 vision of the field and a shot that's both heavy and precise. On Tuesday night against visiting Loch Raven, however, the All-Metro senior's most important quality was persistence. Frustrated throughout regulation by sticky marking from Loch Raven defender Sarah Krejcik and save after save by All-Metro senior goalie Danielle DeLisle, Johnson made the most of an overtime chance in tight quarters. Making a strong run to goal, she received a short cross from senior Becca Garman and promptly placed a shot to the lower left corner from 10 yards with 4:28 left in the first overtime to give the No. 13 Comets a 1-0 win over the Raiders.

Paige Hanson, Bryn Mawr, field hockey The senior forward totaled four goals and four assists in leading the No. 6 Mawrtians to three Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference victories last week. Hanson opened the week with a goal and an assist in a 2-0 win over No. 14 Archbishop Spalding on Monday. In a 4-0 win over Severn on Wednesday, she scored three goals and added an assist before closing out the week with two assists in a 5-0 win over St. Paul's. Hanson has 13 goals and five assists in helping Bryn Mawr to a 13-2-1 mark.

Geaton Caltabiano Mount St. Joseph, soccer The senior All-Metro center midfielder is more often the Gaels' playmaker, but he scored both goals in last week's 2-1 upset of then-No. 1 McDonogh, which had won 38 straight IAAM A Conference games and was ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the NSCAA/Adidas and ESPN Rise polls. He has six goals and seven assists this season. A club player with the Casa Mia Bays, who won national titles in 2007 and 2008, Caltabiano has a 3.5 grade-point average and has narrowed his college choices to Wake Forest, St. John's, Towson, UMBC and Loyola.

next week: all-metro In next Thursday's edition, The Baltimore Sun selects the winter All-Metro teams, including Players of the Year and Coaches of the Year for boys and girls basketball, wrestling and indoor track. Also included are the All-Baltimore City and All-Baltimore County teams.

Boys basketball No. 6 City vs. No. 8 Woodlawn WHERE: IAABO 290 Holiday Mixer at Northwestern WHEN: Tomorrow, 7 p.m. OUTLOOK: The two-day, 10-team tournament features five teams ranked in the Top 15. City has a dominant inside player in junior F Adam Johnson. The Warriors come back with a balanced attack led by Rashid Hines, Tevin Mackey and Corey Thomas. Taking care of the basketball will be key for the Knights. THE BALTIMORE SUN'S PICK: City Girls basketball No. 5 Seton Keough @No. 1 St. Frances WHEN: Jan. 7, 5:30 p.m. OUTLOOK: This is a rematch of last season's Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference championship.

The St. Frances girls basketball players moved so fast at times last night that coach Jerome Shelton had to tell them to slow down. The No. 1 Panthers used a swarming man-to-man defense and a quick transition game to get the better of a taller No. 2 Arundel, taking a 56-45 victory for their fourth straight win over the host Wildcats. All-Metro guard Shatyra Hawkes scored five of her 11 points and had two assists in an 8-3 run to close out the third quarter with a 45-36 Panthers lead. The Wildcats (1-1)

Player of the year Lauren Gibson Chesapeake-AA The junior standout was once again at her best when it counted the most, leading the No. 1 Cougars to their second consecutive Class 4A state championship with a second straight no-hit performance in the title game. In repeating as the All-Metro Player of the Year, Gibson, who has made an oral commitment to Tennessee, enjoyed another stellar season on the mound, at the plate and on the bases. She went 17-2 with a 1.23 ERA, striking out 165 batters in 120 innings.

Softball County Championship Game No. 1 Broadneck vs. No. 2 Chesapeake WHEN -- Tomorrow, TBA WHERE -- Randazzo Park in Severn OUTLOOK -- This will be the latest chapter in the pitching rivalry be tween Broadneck's Kourtney Salva rola and Chesapeake's Lauren Gib son. Salvarola led the Bruins to their first county title last year over the Cougars, 2-1, but Gibson and Chesa peake won the Class 4A East regional by the identical 2-1 score over the Bruins...

Two-time All-Metro pitcher Tyler Hibbs will not play this season and no longer is attending Arundel High. Hibbs was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and intent to distribute Feb. 26. The senior had been practicing with the team, but Arundel coach and athletic director Bernie Walter confirmed in an e-mail yesterday that Hibbs would not play this spring. Hibbs' mother, Tina Hibbs, confirmed that her son was no longer in school at Arundel. "He may attend an alternative night school, possibly at Meade," said Hibbs' father, Tom Hibbs.