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The Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll came out Monday, as it does every week. The one voter who ranked Maryland No. 25 in last week’s poll was not impressed by losses to Syracuse and Purdue and an overtime win at Illinois, and so the Terps received no votes. Towson does not have a pair of wins as impressive as Maryland’s over Butler and Bucknell. The Tigers do not even rate among the top 100 teams in advanced-analytics guru Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. (The Terps are No. 40.) But they have won eight straight games, including a last-second win Saturday over Manhattan in the Basketball Hall of Fame Belfast Classic, and are off to their best start in program history (8-1) at the Division I level. For that, Towson got a top-25 vote in Monday’s poll for the first time in over four years. It came courtesy of Washington Post contributor John Feinstein, whose official ballot online is incomplete for some reason but who acknowledged responsibility Monday for … [Read more...] about Only one local hoops team received an AP Top 25 vote. It wasn’t Maryland.

Katie Ledecky got her start in swimming because she just wanted to make friends. Her brother was eager to join a team at a pool near their house and as a 6-year-old, she tagged along. By summer's end, the Ledecky siblings had made 100 friends ranging in age from 6 to 18. Some of them remain good friends with Katie, who went on to become the world's best swimmer in the post-Michael Phelps era. She earned five golds and a silver at this year's world championships in Budapest, maintaining the upward trajectory she first established as a surprise gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. Her dominant performance in Hungary earned Ledecky Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year honors. In balloting by U.S. editors and news directors announced Tuesday, Ledecky received 351 points, edging out Serena Williams with 343. Williams won the Australian Open for her Open era-record 23rd Grand Slam tennis title . Olympic track star Allyson Felix finished third in voting, with 248 points. Last … [Read more...] about Katie Ledecky named AP Female Athlete of the Year

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — As the Indianapolis 500 celebrates its centennial race May 29, The Associated Press has come up with a completely subjective all-star, 33-driver starting field. The list includes multiple winners, innovators, fan favorites and trend-setters. They may not be the best drivers in race history, but all of them have helped shaped the event. The field is listed in the traditional three-car, 11-row starting grid with a synopsis of each row.Row 1Rick MearsA.J. FoytMario AndrettiSynopsis: Picking a pole winner from such a talented field isn't easy. Mears gets it as one of three four-time race winners and the one who did it quicker than anyone else. Plus, Mears owns a record six Indy poles. Foyt takes the No. 2 spot as the first four-time race winner. He's tied for second all-time with four poles and nobody else is as identifiable with Indy as Foyt, who has competed in every race since 1957 as either a driver or car owner. Despite winning only one time, in 1969, … [Read more...] about The AP’s Indianapolis 500 All-Star starting lineup