Picking the Top 10 Citizen sports stories in the year is always a fun task. It's always interesting to take a little walk down memory lane to look back at the things that made the year in sports interesting. Some years, picking out 10 stories in a year is fairly easy. Sometimes there are just years where the area hasn't had a particularly great year on the sports scene. But 2012 was a little bit unique. There were a lot of terrific stories from the past year. Picking only 10 was a significant challenge. And, in a lot of years, some of the stories left off this year's list would have easily been in the top 10, if not fairly high in the top 10. So I feel it is appropriate to take some time in this spot to share some of the great Citizen sports stories of 2012 that did not make the top-10 list: the best of the rest of 2012. • Early in 2012, Windom boys basketball player Jake Holt further etched his name into the Windom Area High School hoops record books. Holt finished his career with just over 1,900 career points. In January, he surpassed Erica Hormig to become the school's all-time scoring leader, boys or girls. • The relatively dry, snow-free and mild winter meant the earliest known official start to the golf season at the Windom Country Club. The course opened for play in mid-March, shortly after new grounds superintendent Dan Hinton began his duties. The course was open for play two weeks before the clubhouse opened for business. • The summer brought some excitement for Windom graduate Mike Nesseth. Nesseth started the year pitching in Lakewood, N.J., which is a Class A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. But later in the summer, Nesseth was promoted from Lakewood to Clearwater, Fla., which is a High-Class A affiliate. • Windom resident John Loken was inducted into the Jackson Speedway Hall of Fame. Loken was a longtime track announcer at the Jackson Speedway. • Participation numbers for the Windom Country Club's annual club tournaments was down significantly from past years. Both the men's and women's tournaments saw repeat champions. Brent Anderson won the men's tournament for the third straight year while Tara Christensen captured her second straight women's tourney title. • The fact the 2012 pheasant hunting season was a bit of a dud didn't come as a complete surprise to most educated hunters. Back-to-back tough winters in 2009 and 2010 took a heavy toll on the population, which is just starting to rebound. Opening weekend in October was aided by good weather and an early harvest, but numbers were poor enough to make things difficult. However, DNR officials anticipate seeing better numbers next year, particularly if the spring of 2013 is ideal for nesting. • A number of teams in the area saw coaching changes this year. Windom fastpitch coach Paul Vesey resigned after the season. Jess Smith was named to replace him. Red Rock Central girls basketball coach Jeff Shaner resigned after the 2011-12 season. Kylie Dauer took over the head coaching position. Mt. Lake Area saw wholesale coaching changes. After last girls basketball season, Tim Sheehan and Kjell Eken both stepped down as co-head coaches. Eken remained on staff as an assistant to new head coach Wayne Klassen. Kevin Walzak was hired to be the head coach for the new golf program. Walzak coached the Mt. Lake Christian golf program and will continue as the paired MLA head coach. After the baseball season, Shawn Naas stepped down as head baseball coach. No replacement has been hired as of yet. And Activities Director Tim Kirk announced his resignation, effective at the end of the 2012-13 school year. No replacement has been named.
