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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman's Steve Bushnell and Silver Lake's Alan Cunningham combined for an amazing 15 state baseball championships over long high school coaching careers.
So it's probably not a big surprise that those two coaches ended up up at the top of the TopSports.news' Top 10 Best of the Best Coaches list for baseball.
Former Seaman coach Steve Bushnell earned the No. 1 spot on the TSN Best of the Best Top 10 list in baseball after leading the Vikings to nine Class 5A state championships. [File photo/TSN]
Alan Cunningham
Ryan Schmidt
Brett Cowdin
Bushnell, who earned the No. 1 spot on the Best of the Best list, led Seaman to nine Class 5A state championships, four runner-up finishes and 18 state tournament appearances in 21 seasons before moving into the athletic director's position at Seaman in the 2020-2021 school year.
Cunningham, No. 2 on the list, coached Silver Lake in more than 600 games in two separate stints, posting a combined record of 458-170 with six state titles and a run of 22 state tournament berths in 23 seasons.
Bushnell also earned the No. 1 spot in the Reader's Choice poll, edging out veteran coach Frank Magee by just two votes, while former Rossville coach Mick Keller was a solid No. 3 pick by TSN readers.
Nine members of the Best of the Best Coaches list earned at least one state championship, with seven winning multiple titles.
A five-person panel of current and past sports media professionals with more than 150 years of combined experience met to help determine the final Best of the Best Top 10.
Current Shawnee Heights coach Ryan Schmidt is No. 3 on the Best of the Best list, notching a pair of 5A state titles and a string of state appearances, including 2022, while the late Brett Cowdin, who led Hayden and Topeka West to state crowns, merited the No. 4 position.
Former Shawnee Heights coach Craig Cox, former Silver Lake coach C.J. Hamilton and current Hayden coach Bill Arnold, hold down the No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 Best of the Best spots, with all three coaches earning state championships in two sports.
Cox coached two state championship teams in both baseball and basketball at Shawnee Heights and added a fifth state title in basketball at Seaman this past season while Hamilton is best known as the winningest football coach in Kansas history but also led Silver Lake to three state baseball championships and Arnold has coached Hayden to a pair of baseball championships as well as a football title,
No. 8 on the Best of the Best list is Keller, while former Hayden coach Aaron Becker is No. 9 and and former Seaman coach Phil Loomis rounds out the top 10.
Keller led Rossville to the 3A-1A state title in 1991 while Becker led Hayden to a state title in 2009 and Loomis helped build Seaman into a state contender before turning the head coaching reins over to Bushnell.
Here's a look at the Top 10 and Readers Choice Awards:
TSN TOP 10 BEST OF THE BEST BASEBALL COACHES
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
More than 29,000 reader votes have been received since TopSports.news kicked off its Best of the Best Coaches project in late June.
Voting will conclude Friday night before TSN honors Shawnee County's all-time coaching greats in a series of Best of the Best lists.
Current Washburn Rural boys and girls golf coach Jared Goehring has led the Junior Blues to five Class 6A state championships. [File photo/TSN]
Former Hayden and current Rockhurst coach Kathy Strecker won six state cross country team titles with the Wildcats. Hayden Schools]
![Derick Hammes has coached Rossville to five state football championships, including the past two straight. [File photo/TSN]](/images/aa-images/Hammes2_2.jpg)
Derick Hammes has coached Rossville to five state football championships, including the past two straight. [File photo/TSN]
Former Silver Lake coach Loren Ziegler led the Eagles to five girls state basketball titles. [Silver Lake Schools]
More than 240 current and former county coaches have received Best of the Best votes in 14 different sports, including 24 men's basketball coaches and 23 baseball and football coaches.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After beginning the final round of the Topeka Golf Association City Stroke Play championship a stroke down, 20-year-old Addison Alonzo vaulted into the lead early in Sunday's round and made that advantage stand up the rest of the day, closing with a 70 to take a two-stroke win at Lake Shawnee with a 54-hole total of 207.
Former Topeka West star Addison Alonzo took a two-stroke victory in the TGA City Stroke Play tournament Sunday after a final-round 70. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
TGA City Stroke Play champion Addison Alonzo receives a pat on the back from runner-up Dan Key (right) at the conclusion of Sunday's final round. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Alonzo, a former Topeka West standout and two-time national champion for Hutchinson Community College, said the key was sticking to his game plan from start to finish.
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By RICK PETERSON 
EDITOR'S NOTE: Over the coming weeks, TopSports.news will recognize Shawnee County's all-time coaching greats in 14 sports as part of our Best of the Best project. Readers will have the opportunity to vote through July 15, with the Top 10 in all categories announced in July and August. To cast a vote for the Best of the Best wrestling coach click on https://poll-maker.com/poll4401341x415B428E-138 while email votes/nominations will be also accepted at
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Three-time state championship coach Damon Parker of Washburn Rural headlines the list of contenders for the No.1 spot on the TopSports.news Shawnee County Best of the Best Coaches wrestling list.
Damon Parker has led Washburn Rural to three state wrestling team championships, including a pair of girls crowns. [File photo/TSN]
Josh Hogan led Washburn Rural's boys to the 2022 Class 6A wrestling title in his first season as Rural's head coach. [File photo/TSN]
Chad Parks, with 2022 state champ Maranda Bell, has had a highly-successful run as Shawnee Heights' wrestling coach. [File photo/TSN]
Parker led Rural to a pair of state tiitles and a runner-up finish in the first three years of girls wrestling in Kansas and led the Junior Blue boys to the school's first state championship in 2021 before turning the boys reins over to Josh Hogan, who is also a top Best of the Best contender after coaching Rural to a second straight Class 6A crown this past season.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Adam Head, the 2021 Topeka Golf Association player of the year, is in position to add another win after riding a second-round 67 Saturday at Cypress Ridge to a one-stroke lead in the City Stroke Play tournament.
After opening the tournament with a 69 Friday at Shawnee Country Club, Head followed that up with an even better day Saturday to move from fourth place into the tournament lead.
Adam Head taps in a putt on his final hole after hitting an approach shot to within inches. Head shot a second-round 67 to take a one-stroke lead in the TGA City Stroke Play tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Former Topeka West star Addison Alonzo is a stroke back in the TGA City Stroke Play tournament after a second-round 69. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It was solid,'' Head said. "It seemed like I was making some decent putts. I mjssed a few short ones and made a few long ones so it kind of evened out. I think I just had one bogey today so it was just solid overall.''
