The calendar is about to flip to 2011. But we can't allow that to happen without looking back on 2010.
With that in mind, here are the Top 10 stories in Nevada from the past year:
10. Steven Hernandez wins fourth wrestling state title
The
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) standout beat Daniel Allen of Green Valley (Henderson) 13-8 to capture the 152-pound title at the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A tournament in February. Hernandez became the eighth wrestler in the state's largest class to win four straight state crowns and finished the season with a 40-2 record. He is currently a freshman at Boise State.
9. Pahranagat Valley rules Class 1A
Pahranagat Valley (Alamo) loaded the trophy case with four more small-school state titles during the calendar year. The boys basketball team started it off with an upset over two-time defending champion Lake Mead Academy (Henderson) before the baseball team beat Carlin 9-5 to win its first crown since 2001. This fall, the girls volleyball team won its second consecutive title and the football team earned its third straight with a 40-6 pasting of Coleville (Calif.), which was the Panthers' 34th win in a row.
8. Realignment affects 4A Northern Region in football
After 10 months of meetings and committees and proposals, realignment for 3A and 4A in southern Nevada was put on the back burner. But up north, realignment was front and center in football. Four schools dropped down to 3A, leaving an 11-team 4A Northern League that turned into an absolute gantlet where nearly every game was a dogfight.
McQueen (Reno) emerged as the No. 1 seed for playoffs and went on to win the region title over Carson (Carson City).
7. Garic Wharton and Avione Allgood shine at 4A track and field meet
Wharton, who left Valley (Las Vegas) as arguably the greatest sprinter in the history of the state, won his second straight state title in the 100 meters and also won the 200 before heading to Arizona to play football and run track. Wharton's time of 21.05 seconds at the Sunrise Region meet was the third-fastest in the country according to Dyestat.com. Allgood, meanwhile, won her second straight state title in the discus. Currently a junior at
Legacy (North Las Vegas), Allgood set a national record in the javelin to win the young women's division at the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships and represented the U.S. at the IAAF World Junior Championships this summer.
6. Alex Kaui sets record at 4A girls golf tournament
Nevada has produced several outstanding female golfers, but the
Green Valley (Henderson) sophomore's display at the state tournament in late October was unmatched. Kaui shot 64-72-136 at Hidden Valley Country Club in Reno, which was two shots better than the previous state best set by In-Ah Park of Bishop Gorman. The opening-round 64 broke the single-round state record, topping the 6-under 65 posted by In-Bee Park of Gorman in 2004 and the 6-under 66 by Bethany Wooster of Douglas (Minden) in 2008. Kaui finished the season shooting even par or better in every round.
5. Legacy and Arbor View (Las Vegas) win first state titles
Several new schools have popped up in the Vegas valley in recent years, but two of them had yet to hang a banner for a state championship in a team sport. Until this year.
Legacy (North Las Vegas), which opened in 2006, got two goals from Luis Chaidez to beat Desert Pines (Las Vegas) 3-0 for the 4A boys soccer title in mid-November. Kallyn Redona's goal lifted
Arbor View (Las Vegas), which opened in 2005, to a 1-0 win over Coronado (Henderson) in the southern Nevada girls soccer championship match back in March.
4. Douglas girls own the fall season
The NIAA sponsors five sports for girls in the fall and the Tigers won two state titles. The
Douglas (Minden) girls soccer team overcame rival Carson and went on to beat Galena (Reno) 2-0 for its second straight 4A state title in mid-November. Earlier in the season, the Tigers set a state record with seven consecutive shutouts. The girls
volleyball team rolled past Green Valley 25-20, 25-9, 25-15 to win its first state crown since 1998 as Brenna White had 13 kills and Jackie Harper dished out 32 assists.
3. Findlay Prep (Henderson) finishes season ranked No. 5 nationally
The Pilots were left in limbo after Henderson International, where the team's players attended classes, announced in February that it was closing its high school. But that didn't stop
Findlay Prep (Henderson) from winning its second straight National High School Invitational title with a 59-46 win over Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), avenging an earlier loss. The Pilots (32-2) finished the season No. 5 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 and saw seniors Cory Joseph (Texas), Tristan Thompson (Texas), Godwin Okonji (Loyola Marymount) and Marko Petrovic (San Francisco) sign letters of intent.
2. Spanish Springs softball rolls to 4A state title
No program in the state was as dominant as the Cougars
softball squad in 2010. Behind pitcher
Karlyn Jones, Spanish Springs (Sparks) won its third state title in the last four years with a 12-1 victory over Damonte Ranch (Reno) in the championship game in late May. But it was the manner in which Spanish Springs won that was so impressive. Jones allowed 16 hits in 48 postseason innings and the team had a streak of 48 straight scoreless innings snapped in the final. Jones finished with 19 shutouts for the Cougars (33-1), who outscored opponents 318-18 and suffered their only loss of the season to Cajon (San Bernardino, Calif.) at a tournament in Sacramento, Calif.
1. Bishop Gorman does it again
The Gaels' success has sparked all sorts of debate about public vs. private schools in the state, but regardless, there is no denying what
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) accomplished in 2010. The boys basketball team won its second straight 4A state title and finished No. 16 in the Xcellent 25 rankings behind Division I signees Johnathan Loyd (Oregon) and Anson Winder (BYU). The girls basketball team, led by Aaryn Ellenberg (Oklahoma) won a state crown, as did the girls swimming team and the baseball squad, which captured its fifth in a row and ended the season No. 13 in the Xcellent 25 rankings. This fall, the Gaels won their second straight football state title and finished No. 25 in the Xcellent 25 High School Football Rankings presented by the Army National Guard. Any way you look at it, 2010 was the year of the Gael.
David Schoen works at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and is a former Associate Sports Editor and Turn2 columnist for the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune. You can reach him at ByDavid1@aol.com.
