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/JGII7WCU. Email votes/nominations will also be accepted at
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Limiting the men's soccer candidates to just 25 for TSN's Shawnee County Best of the Best ballot was an extremely tough task.
After all, every player on a team is equally imperative to a soccer team's success, from the players up front that do most of the scoring, to the defenders and goalkeepers whose job it is to keep the opponent from scoring.
And although we eventually did come up with a list of 25, there's probably another 25 players, if not 50 or more, that could have easily found their way onto the ballot.
Fortunately, readers have the opportunity to write in candidates to make sure their favorites get their just due.
Nati Clarke [Sporting Kansas City Academy]
Austin Halsey [Baker University Athletics]
Of the players who did make the ballot, there's a wide range of possibilities, from a teenager, Nati Clarke, who hasn't played a minute of high school soccer, but is ranked as one the top prospects in the United States, to former local stars like Austin Halsey, Joah HIckel, Spenser Scott, Adam Sokolowski, Austin Jackson, Erick Rivera, Cody Scheck, Conner Beck and Jacob Keck and more recent standouts like Ethan Armbruster, Johnny Jasso and Ethan Hensyel.
Twenty-five candidates are listed at https://linkto.run/p/JGII7WCU while readers are encouraged to write in the names of their favorites.
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.
Final selections will be based on reader vote as well as input from TSN contributors and current and past local sports media professionals.
Votes will be accepted through July 31 before TSN publishes our Best of the Best lists in August.
NEXT UP: Softball.
