BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – The year 2024 brought us another great 366 days of sports in southcentral Kentucky. From state championships, to undefeated records, to breaking and setting new records, to the Tops making it back to the NCAA Tournament, these are our top moments of the year!

No. 10: Hart County Raiders Football

The raiders pulled off the unthinkable last year, making history with their first undefeated regular season, first district and region title, and first trip to the state semifinals. And while their 2024 season fell short in the region final, Hart County was still able to secure another undefeated regular season and add another district trophy to the shelves to put back-to-back seasons into the record books. Hart County finished 12-1 before falling to Union County in the 3A Regional Final.

No. 9: Malachi Corley

With the 65th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, and the first pick of the 3rd round, the new York jets selected WKU receiver Malachi Corley. Corley became the second highest overall pick in WKU football history, following Forrest lamp back in 2017 who was the 38th overall pick. The Campbellsville, KY native broke the WKU career receptions record in his final year with the tops, finished second in program history in touchdown receptions, and third in receiving yards.

No. 8: Bowling Green High School Cheerleading

It’s hard enough to win a state title once. It’s even harder to win it back-to-back years and it’s nearly impossible to win it three straight. But to win a state championship four years in a row, you’re in the history books and that’s exactly what the Bowling Green cheerleading squad has done. The Purples took home the All Girls Super Division Championship at the KHSAA State Cheer Competition and now look ahead to competing at nationals in February.

No. 7: Butler County Boys Basketball

The 2024 3rd Region Boys Basketball Champions, The Butler County Bears. Butler County made school history on March 12th by defeating Owensboro Catholic 73-57 to secure their ‘first’ 3rd region title … And head to the KHSAA Sweet 16 for the first time in program history. In that title win, the Bears were led to victory by UT Martin signee Ty Price who totaled 36 points, and Western Kentucky signee Lawson Rice who finished with a double-double 13 points and 11 rebounds. Butler County finished with a 23-9 record before falling in the first round of the Sweet 16.

No. 6: McLaine Hudson

In just her sophomore season, Hudson made history in the first round of the 2024 KHSAA Softball State Tournament. The Lady Spartans dominated Elizabethtown 11-2 in the opening contest as Hudson became the new all-time Kentucky record holder for most hits in a single season. She went 3-5 at the plate with a 2-RBI home run and only was a double short of hitting the cycle. Hudson racked up a record-breaking 93 hits on the season and added 22 home runs for a .620 Batting average. She also stole 36 bases on 39 attempts. An outstanding year for McLaine and the Kentucky commit is only getting started.

No. 5: Taylor Sanders

Coming in at five is the WKU Softball legend that is Taylor Sanders. Sanders ended her career on the hill as one of the best to ever put on the jersey. She is now the WKU program all time leader for career home runs (48), career RBI’s (184), and total bases (369) and she did all that dealing with multiple injuries throughout her career. In her last season she also became the leader for most home runs and RBI’s in a single season. She is certainly a future WKU Athletics Hall of Famer.

No. 4: Barren County Trojans Football

What a new era it was for barren county football. John Meyers took over at the helm of the Trojans program in 2024, and what a year it was. In his first season at Barren County, coach Myers took over a 5-win team from the previous season and tied a school record with 10 wins, reaching milestones the Trojans haven’t seen in decades! Barren county finished 10-3 on the year as the region runner-up, it was their first 10 win season since 1979, first playoff win since 1992, first time in program history winning 2 playoff games in a season, the first time in program history to play in a region championship game, and Meyers was named the Kentucky high football coach of the year.

No. 3: Travis Hudson

After 30 years of coaching, countless conference championships, countless All-Americans and countless Coach of the Year awards. The man that passed EA diddle for the second most wins in a single sport in WKU Athletics history will be getting a statue in his honor. It was announced in November that WKU Volleyball head coach Travis Hudson will become the second WKU coach to receive a statue outside of diddle arena and it will be unveiled in 2025.

No. 2: Bowling Green Purples Football

Call them what you want but you have to call them back to back state champions. The Bowling Green Purples capped off the 2024 high school football season winning the programs 9th state title and claim back-to-back state championships beating cooper again, this time 37-20. It caps off an amazing career for quarterback deuce bailey and makes that three titles in the last five years and they don’t look to be slowing down any time soon

No. 1: WKU Men’s Basketball making the NCAA Tournament

For our number one moment of the year…What else could it be? It had been over a decade since the WKU Men’s Basketball team had made the NCAA Tournament After years of being so close to going back, the Tops won the Conference USA Championship to advance to the big dance under first year head coach Steve Lutz. The hilltoppers ended up losing in the first round to Marquette but the Tops put up a great fight and even led at halftime. We’ll see if they can get back to march madness this season.

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