Wheeling Central's Eli Sancomb drives to the basket during the Maroon Knights' Class AA semifinal against Wayne on Friday inside the Charleston Coliseum.

CHICAGO — In its 41st year celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Eli Sancomb of Central Catholic High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade West Virginia Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Sancomb as West Virginia’s best high school boys basketball player, the second-straight year the Maroon Knight has won the award.

With his second trophy in tow, Sancomb joins a very exclusive group of boys basketball players to win multiple Gatorade Player of the Year awards in the Mountain State. Aside from Sancomb, Poca’s Isaac McKneely (2021 and 2022), Huntington Prep’s Jaemyn Brakefield (2018, 2019 and 2020), Wheeling Central’s Chase Harler (2015 and 2016), Huntington Prep’s Andrew Wiggins (2012 and 2013) and Huntington’s Patrick Patterson (2006 and 2007) are the only others to win multiple.

At the time of his selection, the 6-foot-5, 185-pound senior guard had led the Maroon Knights (22-0) to the championship game of the WVSSAC Class AA state tournament. He set tournament records in both of his outings thus far, setting the tournament record for assists with 16 vs. Frankfort, and setting a Class AA tournament record for points in a game with 41 vs. Wayne.

Sancomb averaged 31.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 3 steals through 20 games. The state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, he was named the MVP of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference tournament for the second straight season as well as earning First Team All-Conference and First Team All-State honors.

Sancomb has volunteered locally helping in multiple capacities after last summer’s flood in Wheeling, including shoveling mud, helping an intake center move, sorting donations and helping an elderly couple clean out their house. He also donated his time shoveling driveways after a January snowstorm, along with his brothers, Luke and Jack.

“Eli’s passing is off the charts and he makes all of his teammates better,” Michael Jebbia, head coach at Wheeling Park, said. “He plays the right way and acts the right way. He is a very humble young man who’s going to have a great college career.”

Sancomb has maintained a 3.05 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to play basketball at Liberty University this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year.

From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations.