The best athletes at Mexico High School this year were determined two weeks ago.

Seniors Brendan McKeown and Jordyn Thurman were named the recipients of the Bill Johnson Memorial Award at the school’s athletic awards banquet. The award is given to the best Mexico athletes of a calendar year.

McKeown followed up a seventh-place state tennis medal with an eighth-place finish this year at the Class 1 individual singles boys tennis tournament. He is now a two-time all-state tennis player along with being a four-time all-district and all-conference player, graduating with a 114-45 record. 

On the soccer field, McKeown was a second-team all-conference midfielder after scoring nine goals and registering one assist. In his career, he had 16 goals and three assists.

“He’s a two-sport athlete as he plays soccer as well,” boys tennis head coach Tony Senor said about McKeown last year. “That helps a lot with footwork, eye-hand coordination, being strategic and being where you need to be on the court and on the field.”

Thurman signed to play softball at Division I University of Missouri. She was an all-conference for the fourth time and all-district player this year after posting a stat line of a .342 batting average, 20 RBI, a team-high 18 walks, a team-high eight doubles, a .480 on-base percentage, a .506 slugging percentage, 13 stolen bases, 24 runs scored and a .953 fielding percentage. in 28 games.

“Mechanically, she was very sound,” softball head coach Hanna Branch said after Thurman signed with Mizzou. “Right off the bat, she was really good in drills. She stepped up and moved wherever we needed her to. Players with a higher IQ know that wherever their team needs them they have to play. It’s a great mindset to have and very rare to find.”

On the basketball court, Thurman made the all-conference team, Class 4 District 8 team, Northeast Media all-district team and Class 4, 5 and 6 KMZU Dream Team after averaging 7.2 points, 4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 3.2 steals and a 36 percent shooting from the floor.