By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Nearly 29,000 reader votes have been received since TopSports.news kicked off its Best of the Best project in early July.
Now it's time to honor Shawnee County's all-time greats in a series of lists over the month of August.
More than 500 current and former county athletes received Best of the Best votes in 23 different sports/categories, including 44 men's bowlers, 36 baseball players, 34 women's bowlers and football players, 33 men's cross country runners, 31 women's soccer players and 30 men's tennis players.
Eight sports compiled more than 1,200 reader votes, while four sports topped the 2,000-vote mark, two topped 4,000 votes and women's bowling led the way with more than 9,300 votes.
Melvin Douglas
Dajia Anderson
Chris Barnes
TopSports.news believed it was imperative to give readers the opportunity to vote for their favorite athletes while also trying to make sure that the Best of the Best project was more than a popularity contest. As a result TSN received input from local sports experts as well as current and past sports media professionals throughout the project.
Starting on Aug. 2, TSN will publish its Top 25 Best of the Best lists in each sport/category based on past performances, honors, championships, etc. at the high school, college and professional and amateur levels and will also recognize the top vote-getters with its Readers Choice Awards based strictly on reader votes.
TopSports.news realizes that lists like these are always going to be open to debate, but wanted to recognize as many Shawnee County athletes as possible in as many sports as possible.
It's been fun!
Next up: Baseball Top 25 Best of the Best and Readers Choice Awards.
