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For the first time in its 21-year history, the women outnumber the men who will be inducted into the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame.

Three female athletes are among the five 2016 inductees who were introduced Tuesday night at City Hall.

Golfer Barbara Allan, basketball player Mary Jane Besselink and curler Betty Bush will be joined by Joe Putos, a builder in triathlon, and Corey Trudeau, a first-ballot posthumous inductee who excelled in track and field and football.

This year’s class brings to 163 the number of honoured members in the Hall.

The newest group will be inducted in a ceremony May 6 at Our Lady of Fatima Hall.

For Besselink, who joins her brother, Gerry, in the local hall, it’s the fifth sports hall of fame of which she will be a member, following inductions into the St. Pat’s School, Regiopolis Notre Dame, University of Hartford and New England Basketball halls of fame.

It was at Hartford where Besselink, a five-time female athlete of the year at Regi, made her biggest mark. She led the team in rebounding each of her four seasons there and more than 20 years after graduating, she is still among the top 10 in several performance categories, including rebounding, points, games played and average minutes per game.

Allan, a long-time member of Garrison Golf and Curling Club, has served provincial and national sport-governing bodies in numerous capacities. She was also instrumental in establishing the player development program in this district of the Ontario Ladies Golf Association.

A member of Royal Kingston Curling Club, Bush was a finalist in provincial curling championships in 28 years of a 30-year competitive stretch. In addition to playing in two Canadian masters women’s championships, she was twice recognized provincially for her volunteer work in the club.

For 30 years, Putos was a key organizer with the Kingston triathlon, serving in many capacities, including race director. For that body of work, he was presented with the Syl Apps Volunteer Achievement Award from the province in 2013.

No Kingston-area athlete has won as many as Trudeau’s five OFSAA gold medals in track and field, and only one person can match his overall total of eight. In addition to that, Trudeau, a shot put and discus specialist, won three national championship medals as a juvenile-age competitor and many more in intercollegiate competition. A member of the Queen’s University Football Hall of Fame, Trudeau, a defensive lineman and long snapper, played briefly with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.