After 10 months, the list is complete.
On Monday, the 45 spring sport finalists for the 2018 Semoball Awards were announced during a selection show live on air on SEMO ESPN Radio 1220 AM. In addition to those individual student-athletes, 15 additional nominees were revealed for Coach of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and Sportsmanship, plus the Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
Terry Kitchen, a mainstay in the Cape Girardeau athletic community for the past four decades known to many simply as "Coach," will receive the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fifth Annual Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH on July 14 at the Bedell Performing Arts Center on the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State.
Kitchen has been teaching and coaching at Cape Girardeau schools for four decades and this past year the outdoor athletic facilities at the junior high school were named in his honor.
He was also a standout in the last 1960s as a three-sport athlete at Cape Girardeau Central High School.
While Kitchen's award was announced Monday, the rest of the categories saw only the eligible finalists revealed, with winners to be presented at the July 14 event.
The spring season saw a large number of new faces earn their place at the Semoball Awards, with just one sport -- golf -- featuring more than two returning nominees.
Four of five of last year's golf finalists are back, including reigning Golfer of the Year Sarah Bell, of Notre Dame. She is back in the mix after winning another state championship while helping the Bulldogs to a Class 1 team title.
The one newcomer on the links is Jackson's Tanner Walton, who was all-state in Class 4 and helped the Indians to a fourth-place team finish at the state tournament.
On the flip side, baseball's list of 10 hopefuls is populated entirely by players new to the event. The group includes a pair of state winners in Oran's Drew Reischman and Layne Johnson, and two Poplar Bluff representatives in Turner Fritts and Mason Libla. Dee Triplett joins the party after leading Malden to a surprise Class 3 state title with both his bat and his arm, while no area pitcher had a more impressive year than Jackson's Tyler Martin.
Boys track and field also welcomes an entirely new group, though the names are familiar to fans of local high school athletics. While all five nominees have put together impressive careers, it is a first-time nod in the track and field category for Jackson's Ean Buffington, Charleston's Jeremy Tucker, Malden's Jackson Wilson, Poplar Bluff's Wyatt Murphy and St. Vincent's Trevor Lukefahr.
Lukefahr and Wilson were both state champions; Buffington is also a finalist for cross country and Wilson and Tucker are both nominees on the football field.
Defending Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year Riley Burger, of Notre Dame, is back to lead the charge in that category after a pair of all-state jumping finishes, including a second triple jump state title in two years.
She is joined by teammate and multi-event standout Carly Pujol, elite pole vaulter Katie Schumer of Jackson, Class 2 triple jump champ Aylexus Leshay of Malden and the young Kamya Battles, a Caruthersville freshman. Burger is the only nominee returning from 2017, but Schumer was a finalist two years ago as a sophomore.
In softball, Notre Dame's Madison Landeros, who hit .457 and led her team to a runner-up state finish in Class 4, returns alongside fellow veteran nominee Shelby Sievers of Poplar Bluff. This is a third Semoball Awards nod for both.
There is a large contingent of softball players who earned an invite two years ago, including Chaffee's Sydney Walker, Scott City's Kaileigh Dirden and Malden's Lana Reed. But newcomers like Bernie's Alyson Marcum and Doniphan's Paige Eddington put up huge offensive numbers to earn recognition.
Three-time nominee and reigning category winner Megan Heisserer leads the charge in girls soccer after another record-setting year at Notre Dame, as she reset her own single-season mark with 37 goals and broke the program's career record.
Jackson's Lauren Welker is a return selection after the Southeast Missouri State signee helped the Indians to a historic, first-ever final four run, and is joined by teammate Mik Liley.
Class 1 Co-Player of the Year Corin Carroll gets an invitation after scoring 33 goals with 24 assists to lead the Indians to a second consecutive state championship.
Her fellow Co-Player of the Year in Class 1, Saxony Lutheran's Emma Brune, gets her first nomination, following in the footsteps of older sister and 2016 category winner Maddie Brune.
On the tennis court, Sikeston's Brett Johnson is back for a second finalist nod, bringing along first-timer and teammate Warren Chinwuko. Cape Girardeau Cetral's Devon Tiemann, Dexter's Eric Hahan and Poplar Bluff's Ben Stewart fill out the group of new faces.
The contenders for Comeback Player of the Year feature a pair of Mules -- Poplar Bluff's Tyson Cox and Logan Bell -- who battled through injuries this season, as well as Saxony Lutheran basketball player Trae Robinson, Jackson dual-sport finalist Liley and Notre Dame standout Burger.
Sportsmanship features a field of varied acts of humanity that stood out this school year. Those include a show of social media sportsmanship from Jackson football quarterback Cooper Callis, Hayti football comforting an opponent, Poplar Bluff softball recognizing the hard work of those in the other dugout and Charleston basketball recognizing some things are bigger than basketball.
Coach of the Year candidates are Dayna Powell (Cape Girardeau Central boys and girls swimming), Carmen Morgan (Dexter volleyball), Becky Hale (Neelyville girls basketball), Tim Harmon (Malden baseball) and Justin McMullen (Jackson girls soccer).
The Semoball Awards will also feature keynote speaker Lisa Leslie, a WNBA and USA Basketball legend.
Tickets for the event are on sale now. Go to awards.semoball.com to purchase tickets or get more information about the event, sportsmanship nominees and all the finalists -- a group of 145 area student-athletes, plus an impressive collection of scholar-athlete winners who will be announced at the Awards.
The Semoball Awards are supported by title sponsors SEMO ESPN Radio, the St. Louis Cardinals and rustmedia, along with bank sponsor The Bank of Missouri.