​After a thorough process of multiple voting rounds, the voices of readers have spoken loudly and clearly. Kelton’s standout track athlete, McKinzi McManus, is named the 2025-26 Happy State Bank Girls High School Athlete of the Year. McManus garnered an impressive 33,662 of the 72,977 total votes cast by readers, representing 46.1 percent of all ballots.
Following McManus in voting were Borger’s Lila Breedlove, who finished second with 12,671 votes, and Vega’s Khloe Griffit, who secured third place with 7,452 votes. McManus’ accomplishments this season were exceptional, including five medals at the Miami Warrior Relays: she won the high jump, long jump, and triple jump, and she placed third in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Earlier in March, she earned Athlete of the Week honors in recognition of her standout performances.
The weekly voting for the Athlete of the Week trophy continued throughout the school year, yielding 35 Athletes of the Week across multiple weeks. The voting process was organized in phases, beginning on June 1 and running Monday through Thursday each week, with alternating weeks featuring boys finalists and girls finalists. The next stage, voting for the Happy State Bank Team of the Year, is set to begin on Monday, July 13.
Here are the standings for the Happy State Bank High School Athlete of the Week, as announced:
– McKinzi McManus, Kelton girls track — 33,662 votes
– Lila Breedlove, Borger girls wrestling — 12,671 votes
– Khloe Griffit, Vega girls basketball — 7,452 votes
– Mia Gomez, Hereford girls basketball — 7,229 votes
– Berklee Billington, Bushland girls basketball — 6,169 votes
– Rachel Adams/Hannah Adams, Vega girls tennis — 3,101 votes
– Emma McKinney, Borger softball — 1,714 votes
– Hailo Moon, McLean girls track — 979 votes
A total of 72,977 votes were cast in the voting period for Athlete of the Week. Throughout the school year, readers are encouraged to submit nominees, including statistics, honors, and accolades from the previous week, by Saturday each week to sports@amarillo.com.
This feature originates from the Amarillo Globe-News, highlighting Kelton’s McManus as the Globe-News Girls Athlete of the Year, presented by Happy State Bank, and is designed to support better search engine optimization.