RAPID CITY - Heading into the 2007 State Class AA girls volleyball tournament at the Sioux Falls Arena in November, all the Rapid City Stevens Raiders really wanted was just to win a first-round match, then go from there.

Winning that first one would help erase four previous years of frustration when the Raiders lost in the first round, then finished either seventh or eighth in the eight-team tourney field.

"If we can get past the first round, we could wind up anywhere," said first-year Raider head coach Josh Lien going into the tournament.

"Anywhere" turned out to be at the top of the Class AA heap for Stevens.

The Raiders' electrifying run to their first state Class AA volleyball championship since 1992 was picked as the Rapid City Journal's top sports story of 2007.

Sixth-seeded Stevens came into the tournament on the heels of a mercurial 26-11 regular season, but knocked off the three top seeds to win the title.

Stevens jettisoned its first-round "jinx" with an emotional four-set win over Greater Dakota Conference champion and No. 3 tourney seed Sioux Falls Lincoln, then swept No. 2 Sioux Falls Washington in the semifinals the following night.

The real stunner came in the finals against top-seed Pierre.

Down 0-2 to the undefeated Lady Govs, the Raiders rallied for three straight wins to claim a state tournament classic 24-26, 14-25, 25-13, 25-15, 16-14 win.

Pierre, which had ridden a 25-game win streak dating back to the 2006 state tournament in Watertown, was denied a first volleyball title in just their third "AA" tournament appearance since 1998.

Lien said leadership from eight seniors, Paige Osterloo, Cassie Brinker, Whitney Lutz, Brooke Warne, Amy Sykora, Courtney Nordine, Sarah Dedik and Kayla Huether, coupled with a truckload of heart, was the key for the Raiders.

That heart was never more apparent than after the first two losses to Pierre.

"Many coaches would have told their teams to settle down and focus," Lien said after the win. "I told the girls to play with emotion, because that's when we're at our best."

Lien is hoping the seeds of success will bear fruit among the younger players.

"We have sophomores, freshmen and an eighth-grader who suited up for us. I saw them get emotional after the championship and have some tears of joy. I thought, 'you guys just memorize that feeling and you'll want to work hard enough to get back here,'" Lien said.

"I had eight seniors and hopefully those eight seniors helped me instill a sense of urgency in these underclassmen that that's what they want too."

Junior Kelly Herrmann, around whom Lien will rebuild next year, said it best after scoring the match- and title- winning point off a set by All-State selection Sykora.

"I guess I'm kind of an honorary senior. I knew this year was probably our last shot. I know them and love them all so much, I wanted to do it for them," she said.

No. 2

Gritty Cavaliers repeat as champs

RAPID CITY - St. Thomas More joined elite company in March, when the Cavaliers repeated as state Class A boys basketball champions by beating Little Wound before a large, raucous crowd at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Since the start of South Dakota's three-class system in 1986, only three teams - Vermillion (1988-89), Custer (1992-93) and West Central (2000-01) - managed repeat championships until St. Thomas More matched the feat last spring.

The three D's - defense, determination and Kyle Doerr - keyed the Cavaliers' second state title.

More limited Little Wound to 41 percent shooting, including 3-for-15 shooting from 3-point territory during the vital third quarter, which saw the Cavaliers up their lead to 55-38 and put a stranglehold on the game's outcome. More out-scored the Mustangs 19-8 during the third stanza.

"Our defense has been solid all year," More coach Dave Hollenbeck said. "We've been giving up less than 40 points a game. You have to give credit to my assistant coach (Ryan Messick), the best defensive coach you could have."

Doerr, a senior, scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half and finished with 14 rebounds and five assists in his final game as a Cavalier.

The championship game victory avenged St. Thomas More's only loss of the 2006-07 season. The Cavaliers lost to the Mustangs in the title game of the Lakota Nation Invitational in December of 2006.

St. Thomas More didn't have any easy path to the title game. The Cavaliers had to overcome Jared Vlastuin and Lennox for a 68-65 win in their first-round game with the Orioles. In the second round, More knocked off Madison 65-54 to set up its championship game with Little Wound.

"This was so huge," Hollenbeck said after the title game win. "To get a championship once is unbelievable, but back-to-back is beyond our wildest dreams. The fun part was all the fans were able to come and enjoy this. We played for each other, our school, Rapid City, western South Dakota, not just themselves. That's why they are such a special team."

No. 3

Woodhead rushes into record books

RAPID CITY - Danny Woodhead capped his remarkable career at Chadron State College with the all-college career rushing record and a second-straight Harlon Hill Trophy as the best player in NCAA Division II football.

It was on Oct. 6 in Silver City, N.M., against Western New Mexico University that Woodhead led the Eagles to a 21-0 victory and rushed his way to the career rushing record.

Woodhead's 5-yard run on a first-and-10 to the WNMU 41-yard line early in the third quarter boosted his career total past the 7,353 yards accumulated by R.J. Bowers of Div. III Grove City College in Pennsylvania from 1997-2000.

In spite of missing the better part of three games with a foot injury, Woodhead ended his college career with 7,962 rushing yards. His 9,479 career all-purpose yards ranks second, and his 109 career touchdowns ties the NCAA record. His career total 654 points is also second all-time.

The Eagles won a second straight RMAC title and advanced to the NCAA Div. II quarterfinals, where they bowed for the second straight year to eventual D-II runner-up Northwest Missouri State.

Woodhead is a four-year Harlon Hill nominee and only the third player to win the award back-to-back. He became the only player, male or female, in Chadron State history to have his jersey (No. 3) retired.

College officials announced on Dec. 16 that Woodhead had been invited to join other top college players in the Hula Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 12.

No. 4

Kevin Morsching dies after a skateboard accident

RAPID CITY - Everything that needed to be said about Kevin Morsching after his tragic death in August was expressed simply by the attendance of hundreds of people who packed the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Cathedral in Rapid City for his funeral.

In his short life, the former St. Thomas More and Rapid City Post 22 product touched the lives of many, from his hometown of Rapid City to Brookings, where he pitched for South Dakota State.

"I pray that my three boys grow up to emulate Kevin," Morsching's high school football coach, Wayne Sullivan, said shortly after his death.

Morsching died in Sioux Falls after a skateboarding accident caused him to go into a coma in Brookings on Aug. 20. He underwent surgery to relieve swelling on the brain and the family was hopeful in the beginning. But a CT scan showed massive brain-stem damage that gave little hope of life beyond a respirator and tubes.

"He was one of the hardest-working kids we ever had in the Post 22 baseball program," said Post 22 coach Dave Ploof after Morsching's death in August.

"There are givers and takers in the world, and he gave of himself. People will be a lot better off having known Kevin. His life was way too short, but it was a privilege to have shared a brief part of his life."

The overflow crowd at Rapid City's largest church was a fitting farewell for a kind and generous young man.

"He was never in a certain group. He would try to be friends with everybody, and get along with everybody," his younger brother, Kirby, said.

No. 5

Raider thinclads capture 12th straight state title

RAPID CITY - Rapid City Stevens again proved an irresistible force in the girls track and field circles in South Dakota in 2007.

The Raiders claimed their 12th consecutive state Class AA team championship in May, largely because of the team's overwhelming depth. Stevens built on its run of consecutive titles using the same formula that has extended the streak year after year; the Raiders had multiple qualifiers for the state meet in 16 of 19 events.

Stevens outdistanced its nearest competition, Rapid City Central, by 57 points at state to build on the nation's longest active streak of consecutive state girls track championships.

"Every year is a new team, a new challenge," Stevens track and field coach Paul Hendry said after his team won the 2007 state AA girls championship. "We don't look at it as 12 in a row. We look at it as just another year."

The Raiders won four events at state. Emily DeVries swept the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, while Brooke Garner took the shot put. The foursome of Kayla Gosnell, Becca Bedard, Mikayla Anderson and Haylee Weisgram claimed the 400-meter relay.

Hendry pointed out that Stevens got off to a quick start at state in 2007 - Kate Schleusener and Brooke Warne scored 13 points in the high jump, then Garner, Kelly Herrmann and Christina Georgas followed with 15 in the shot - to give the Raiders an early edge. The two early events proved a harbinger of things to come over the course of the two-day meet.

Stevens finished with 148 points to overcome one of the greatest individual AA state meet performances posted by Central's Jasmyne King, who won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes and the long jump to lead the Cobblers to 91 points and a second-place finish.

The 2007 state championship also moved Stevens into a second-place tie nationally for all-time consecutive state championships, with 12. Only Essex Junction, Vt., (1985-97) and Safford, Ariz., (1986-98) have longer unbroken state title runs, at 13.

No. 6

Zone harriers shine at state

RAPID CITY - Zone cross country team had a banner day at the South Dakota State Cross Country Championships in 2007. Three area teams captured state championships, and four runners went home race winners following a state meet run in warm conditions on a muddy course at Huron's Broadland Creek Golf Course.

Hill City boys cross country coach Dan Asheim may have summed the state meet up best after his Rangers won the state Class A boys team title.

"Hats off to West River," Asheim said.

A young Kadoka girls team started the victory parade with a win in the Class B meet. Three Kougars placed in the top 15, as Kadoka edged Scotland by eight points for top honors.

Takini's Kiko Mendoza followed with his third straight state title in the Class B boys run at Huron. Mendoza became just the seventh boy in South Dakota to win three state titles at any level, and the sixth to win state three times in a row.

Next came Custer's team championship in the Class A girls meet. Four Wildcats finished in the top 25 in team scoring, as Custer unseated defending champion Cheyenne-Eagle Butte from the top spot in the Class A ranks.

Hill City got top-10 finishes from Andy Coy and Hudson Koel as the Rangers pocketed the school's first team title in boys cross country, scoring 40 points to edge surprising Redfield and defending champ McLaughlin. The state title completed a "triple crown" for Hill City, which also won the Region 5A and Black Hills Conference meets in 2007.

Eamin Entwisle of Hot Springs finished a West River sweep in the A boys meet by winning the boys meet. The Bison senior took the rubber match run with Hill City's Coy with his first at state. Coy won the BHC boys run before Entwisle rebounded with wins at the region and meets.

Madeleine Takahashi of Sturgis and Travis Fitzke of Pierre rounded out the day with firsts for their schools.

Takahashi, a freshman, had the honor of becoming the first Scooper to bring home a state Class AA girls championship when she broke away from the field about halfway through the girls 4,000-meter run and cruised to victory.

Fitzke followed with a first-place finish in the boys run, edging Greg Beesley of Brandon Valley by four seconds for top honors. Fitzke became the first Gov runner to wear a boys individual crown.

No. 7

Pro hockey coming to Rapid City

RAPID CITY - The Central Hockey League has arrived in Rapid City.

Thanks to an addition to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center and local interest in owning a team, hockey is Rapid City's latest professional sport.

The Rapid City Rush will begin play during the 2008-2009 season, and they have a 64-game regular-season schedule.

The local owners include Don Ward, Scott Mueller and Barry Peterson. On Aug. 2, Joe Ferras was named head coach and director of hockey operations, and Jason Rent was named general manager.

"We are 100 percent committed to make sure that this team is the best team in the CHL," Ward said in an August interview. "We have the management team in place, we think we have a great management team, and we have the financial resources committed to make sure that this happens."

A big key for the Rush is the fact that the team has strong local ownership.

"The first thing is that local ownership is huge," Rent said. "You have local people with their roots here that are putting their money out there. They're not fly-by-night, because they have to live here."

The civic center and the CHL have a 10-year contract in place to keep the franchise in Rapid City through 2019.

The CHL is a professional AA league comprised of 17 teams in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.

The civic center addition is scheduled to be completed in December 2008. Planners hope to avoid home-game scheduling problems for the 2008-09 hockey season. The traditional CHL season runs from October to May, which includes playoffs. To accommodate the construction schedule, the team may have to start the season on the road.

The new arena will seat about 5,000 people for hockey games, 5,700 for basketball games and nearly 7,000 for concerts or other stage events.

No. 8

Toland retires from the Journal after 43 years

RAPID CITY - When Roger Toland retired at the end of August, he ended a record 43-year career as sports writer and sports editor at the Rapid City Journal.

Toland, a native of Rapid City, studied accounting at National College of Business (now National American University) in Rapid City.

In 1964, however, Toland submitted stories and box scores from his church league softball games to then-Journal sports editor Don Lindner, who eventually hired Toland as a full-time sportswriter.

From there Toland covered more than 15,000 sports events. American Legion Baseball and high school track and field were his specialties, along with keeping "stats," in all sports.

"You always knew who ran the fastest 100 and 400, and which wrestlers had the most takedowns and reversals," said Dave Ploof, who started his career as manager of Rapid City American Legion Post 22 baseball about the same time as Toland began writing.

Toland, 70, will be inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in April, and he plans to continue attending sporting events with his wife, Joann. He is also planning a series of children's books based on the real-life exploits of the athletes he has covered over the years.

No. 9

Golddiggers take fourth straight state title

RAPID CITY - The Lead-Deadwood girls golf team won its fourth consecutive Class A state title on May 21-22 at Madison Country Club.

The Golddiggers shot a two-day total of 690 to finish 55 strokes ahead of second-place West Central (745).

Lead-Deadwood had three individuals in the top-5, with senior Tara Hofer finishing runner-up, sophomore Jenessa Rantapaa taking third and junior Danielle Bellet placing fifth. Hofer and Rantapaa actually played in the final group together.

"It feels great to win it again," Lead-Deadwood head coach Joan Rachetto said following the victory. "I was pleased with our girls' scoring … It was especially fun to watch Jenessa and Tara feed off each other all day."

The rest of the 2007 'Digger varsity squad included sophomore Tassy Rantapaa (14th place) and eighth-grader Ellise Nichols (34th place).

The first state girls golf tournament was in 1973, and only five teams, including Lead-Deadwood, have won four consecutive state titles.

During the days of the two-class system, Sioux Falls O'Gorman (Class A, 1984-1987), Elk Point (Class B, 1990-93) and Rapid City Stevens (Class A, 1994-97) accomplished the feat. Clark is currently on a four-year winning streak, taking the 2004-07 Class B championships.

Brittnay Hofer helped get the streak going in 2004 when she took medalist honors as a senior, and Tara Hofer, her sister, won the 2005 and 2006 individual crowns.

No. 10

Sturgis surprises Sioux Falls Lincoln in playoffs with win

RAPID CITY - One of the feel-good stories of 2007 came from the Sturgis Scooper football program, which took to the road and surprised Sioux Falls Lincoln 31-25 in the opening round of the Class 11AA football playoffs in October.

At the time of the win, Sturgis was barely a year removed from ending a long and painful losing streak at 79 games when the Scoopers hit the turf at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls for an Oct. 23 first-round game in the newly seeded 11AA playoff system.

The four Greater Dakota Conference teams from West River hadn't had the best of goes against their four league rivals from Sioux Falls in 2007, going a combined 0-16 during the regular season and being outscored 667-97.

But there were the Scoopers at game's end, celebrating their first playoff victory since 1995 when Sturgis knocked off Sioux Falls Roosevelt.

"It means a lot," Scooper running back Brit Porterfield said after carrying the pigskin 37 times for 146 yards during Sturgis' win over the Patriots. "A couple years ago, we were the laughingstock of South Dakota football. So it feels pretty good."

The victory improved Sturgis to 4-6 at the time, and made the Scoopers the lone 11AA playoff entrant of five from the Black Hills region to advance to the quarterfinals. There, the Scoopers pushed second-seeded Watertown the entire game before falling, 30-20.

By then, Sturgis had opened some eyes, and gained a measure of respect for all the ground the Scoopers covered in the 14 months since they brought an end to their losing streak in 2006.

Head coach Adolph Shepardson looked at his team's win against Lincoln as another barrier cleared as the Scoopers work their way up the Class 11AA ranks after being down for so long.

Honorable mention

- Chadron State football team earns a 76-73 three-overtime defeat of Abilene Christian in NCAA Division playoffs.

- Shane Van Boening wins U.S. Open 9-Ball and World 10-Ball titles.

- White River basketball player Louie Krogman sets state scoring record.

- Black Hills State football team shakes off 1-3 start to make NAIA playoffs.

- Black Hills State cross country teams place well at national meet. The men placed second, the women placed third and overall, the Yellow Jackets placed eighth.

- Sturgis wrestling team wins third straight state championship.

- Colome football team beats top two seeds on its way to the state 9B title.

- St. Thomas More football team goes to fourth straight state title game.

- St. Thomas More girls track team wins second straight state championship.

- West baseball high school team plays inaugural season.

- West River SDGA golfers fare well.