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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize hundreds of Shawnee County's all-time greats in 25 sports/categories as part of our Best of the Best project. Readers will have the opportunity to vote through July, with the Top 25 in all categories announced in August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on: https://linkto.run/p/7NXPFJZL. Email votes/nominations will also be accepted at
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There may not be a clearcut favorite when it comes down to picking the top women's basketball player in Shawnee County history.
Or to lock at it another way, there's a whole bunch of favorites.
The list of candidates includes former Kansas State stars like Nadira Hazim, Kristie Bahner and Peyton Williams as well as former Washburn University stalwarts Brenda Shaffer-Dahl, Shelley Foster, Nikki Olberding, Latisha Yarnell, Kelly Jennings, Lorie Roenbaugh, Jessica Mainz and Erika Lane.
Jeneka Joyce was a NCAA national champion for Notre Dame, while Crystal Kemp was an All-Big 12 pick for the Jayhawks, Cierra Ceazer made her mark at Grambling and Indiana State and both Deana Alexander and the late Tisharria Huggins played at Wichita State.
Brenda Shaffer-Dahl
Tatyana Legette
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize hundreds of Shawnee County's all-time greats in 25 sports/categories as part of our Best of the Best project. The project gets under way with baseball and readers will have the opportunity to vote through July, with the Top 25 in all categories announced in August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, click on: https://linkto.run/p/87MXCEBI Email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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The list of contenders to get the nod as the top baseball player in Shawnee County history has to start with New York Yankees World Series hero Mike Torrez and American League All-Star and Gold Glove winner Ken Berry.
Mike Torrez
Ken Berry
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural, which finished third in the Class 6A state soccer tournament had six players receive All-State recognition from the Kansas State Soccer Coaches Association while Seaman had a pair of honorees in 5A.
Rural, which won the Centennial League title and advanced to the 6A final four for the seventh straight season, is represented on the All-6A first team by senior forward Brynn Fitzgibbons, junior midfielders Hunter McWilliams and Belle Kennedy, with Kennedy being named the 6A midfielder of the year after leading the Junior Blues in goals and assists and earning first-team All-Shawnee County honors.
Belle Kennedy
Brynn Fitzgibbons
Hunter McWilliams
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee County athletes have long distinguished themselve in a multitude of sports at the high school, collegiate, high amateur and professional levels, with county high schools producing Super Bowl and World Series champs, national individual and team champions, Olympians, local and national Hall of Famers and even U.S. Open champs in a pair of sports.
And while you're familiar with a lot of those local legends, there are others who have carved out impressive careers in their chosen sports that you aren't as familiar with, and some you've probably never head of.
Over the next several weeks, we'll try to change that.
Beginning this week and continuing through the summer, TopSports.news will attempt to honor hundreds of the county's all-time greats in some 25 sports/categories as part of our Best of the Best project, and we're counting on a lot of help from our readers to make that happen.
We want to know who you rate as the best athletes in the history of the county and not just in marquee sports like football, basketball and baseball but in a plethora of other sports, including many that don't normally get the same attention.
TopSports.news plans to publish Top 25 Best of the Best lists in all 22 male and female sports offered by the Kansas State High School Activities Association that Shawnee County High Schools participate in as well as an at-large list to cover sports like shooting, handball and any other sport that local athletes past and present have distinguished themselves in as well a list of the county's all-time multi-sport athletes.
The project will conclude with TSN's list of the Top 100 Athletes in Shawnee County history (all sports combined).
Shawnee County Olympians Melvin Douglas (wrestling), Preston Carrington (track and field) and Margaret Murdock (shooting), former Major League Baseball stars Mike Torrez and Ken Berry, U.S. Open golf champion Gary Woodland, PBA Hall of Fame and U.S. Open champion bowler Chris Barnes, Super Bowl participants like Tom Dinkel, Troy Wilson and Michael Wilhoite and Silver Lake and Kansas State basketball star Lon Kruger are likely to receive a lot of support from their fans as are national college champions like Lisa Carey (softball), Tom Meier (basketball) and Fred Slaughter (basketball) and Topeka West tennis great Sheri Norris
But don't forget about the late Steve Tilford, one of the greatest cyclists in United States history, and athletes like boccia champ Austin Hanson, handball star Max Gaither or polo's Jack L. Bybee, Paralympian Dan Cnossen or multi-sport Cair Paravel Latin and K-State star Peyton Williams.
Or ... well, who knows? The possibilities are too numerous to mention, so you tell us.
To cast a vote for the Best of the Best, simply visit TopSports.news and participate in our polls. Nominations/votes will also be accepted by email at
You can vote as many times as you wish, with the only requirement that eligible candidates must have grown up in Shawnee County or attended one of the county's 10 high schools.
Over the coming days/weeks we will post a poll for each of our categories and list some of the top candidates to pick from while also giving readers the option of writing in other names.
Final selections will be based on reader vote as well as input from TopSports.news contributors and current and past local sports media professionals.
We will accept votes through July 31 before publishing our Best of the Best lists in August.
So, who you got?
FIRST UP: Baseball (ballot will be published on TopSports.news on July 6).
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No matter what, Wednesday night would have been special for Kyle Weems and Michael Wilhoite.
After all, it's a very rare occasion when an athlete get the opportunity to be enshrined in their hometown hall of fame.
The fact that the former Highland Park teammates and close friends got the chance to be inducted into the Topeka Shawnee County Hall of Fame on the same night added to the excitement ... a lot.
"It doesn't get any better," Weems said. "I said it before and I said it up there tonight, 'That's my brother. He's not a friend, he's my brother.' We've been through so much together and we've seen each other struggle trying to get to the place in our careers that we thought we deserved. To see us do that was awesome."
"It's everything, the world," Wilhoite said. "I say this all the time, 'Me and Kyle are so much better together than we are apart.' To be able to share this moment with him and his family, which is my family, and my family, which is his family, is priceless. There is nothing I can put into words to describe it."
Michael Wilhoite (right) proudly displays his Topeka Shawnee County Hall of Fame plaque Wednesday night after being introduced by his former teammate and fellow NFL assistant coach Joe Hastings (left). [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Former Highland Park great Kyle Weems gives his induction speech into the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
