See all 95 Kentuckians who received votes for 2022 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year

Final voting

One hundred forty-three current and former media members from across Kentucky helped select the 2022 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year. Voters submitted up to 10 names. Points were awarded in the following manner: 12 for a first-place vote; 10 for second; eight for third; seven for fourth; six for fifth; five for sixth; four for seventh; three for eighth; two for ninth; one for 10th. First-place votes are in parentheses:

Notes: *-tie broken by number of first-place votes received; x-tie broken by number of second-place votes received; y-three-way tie broken by number of second-place votes received; z-tie broken by number of third-place votes received.

Others receiving first-place votes in order of total points received: Ciara O’Shea, cross country, track & field (1), 58; Mike Pratt, sports media (1), 20; Malachi Corley, football (1), 17; Alan Jones, softball (1), 12; Oksana Masters, paralympian (1), 12.

Others named on at least two ballots: Donna Moir, basketball, 64; Mitch Barnhart, administration, 61; Hailey Van Lith, basketball, 60; Austin Reed, football, 56; Brooke Gray, softball, 54; Reed Sheppard, basketball, 53; Matt McMahon, basketball, 51;

Brad Cox, horse racing, 49; Jon Sumrall, football, 49; Ahmed Jaziri, cross country, track & field, 45; Justin Haddix, football, 44; Travis Perry, basketball, 44; Will Shaner, rifle, 44; Josh Cook, basketball, 39; Mary Tucker, rifle, 38; Johan Cedegren, soccer, 37; Cedric Kaufmann, tennis, 37; Ty Bryant, football, 35; Donovan Mitchell, basketball, 35;

Dre’una Edwards, basketball, 31; Liam Draxl, tennis, 30; Kendra Harrison, track & field, 30; Nick Albiero, swimming, 28; Kyra Elzy, basketball, 28; Yasir Abdullah, football, 24; Tyler Guilfoil, baseball, 24; Keegan Kendrick, football, 24; Emma Grome, volleyball, 23; KJ Williams, basketball, 21;

Emily Engster, basketball, 19; Turner Buttry, basketball, 18; Craig Skinner, volleyball, 18; Jeff Hans, basketball, 17; Nathan McPeek, football, 17; Steve Flesch, golf, 16; Lauren Matthews, volleyball, 16; Jaire Alexander, football, 15; Austin Sparrow, basketball, 15; Erin Coffel, softball, 14; Will Smith, baseball, 14; Jerone Morton, basketball, 12; Cole Thomas, wrestling, 12; JP Vaught, track & field, 12; Tyler Gaffalione, horse racing, 11; ZaKiyah Johnson, basketball, 11; Lee Kiefer, fencing, 11;

Jensen Castle, golf, 10; Brad White, football, 10; Cody’s Wish, horse racing, 9; Malik Cunningham, football, 9; Hannah James, softball, 9; Gabriela Leon, track & field, 9; William Unseld, basketball, 9; Molly Wise, track & field, 9; Timberlynn Yeast, basketball, track & field, 9; Karl-Anthony Towns, basketball, 8; Robert Ervin, wrestling, 7; Johni Broome, basketball, 6; Tevin Brown, basketball, 6; Emily Fox, soccer, 6; Gabriel Diallo, tennis, 5; Patrick Forbes, baseball, 5; Christopher Rodriguez, football, 5; Katelyn Young, basketball, 4.

Ballot leaders

Candidates included on the most ballots:

Voting by region

How the leaders fared in each region of the state (Eastern Kentucky is the 606 and 859 area codes outside of Lexington; Western Kentucky is the 502 and 270 area codes outside of Louisville)

Past winners

All-time results in Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award voting:

Note: The award was known as Kentucky Sportsman of the Year from 1981-2015.

This story was originally published January 31, 2023 at 9:40 AM.

Mark Story

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-444-4731

Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription