It’s hard to believe that the year has come to an end. I don’t know about the rest of the world (being a sports editor, I guess I just don’t really care about what happens at a GSB meeting) but as far as sports at Iowa State go, it was the best two semesters in a long, long time.

We have a football team that completely turned the program around, two basketball teams that continued to dominate the Big 12 despite many doubters, the best wrestler EVER, and so on.

So the task that lies before me is to pick what I feel are the top four events of the year. I know not everyone will agree with me, but that is what makes this year at Iowa State so great, so much good stuff happened, that everyone may have their own list.

Here’s mine.

No. 1: This decision wasn’t as easy as I thought it might be, but I’m going to go with the bowl game. It was 22 years since the Cyclones last went to a bowl game, and every year since then it has been the same thing, “This is the year we’ll turn it around,” or “wait until next year.”

Finally it all turned around, and it couldn’t have happened to a better team. Dan McCarney and his team really deserved this. They have had to put up with a lot of ridicule, but despite having all the expectations and the pressure, they pulled through and did it this year.

The team tied a school record with nine wins (more than they’ve won the first three years I’ve been here combined) and topped it off by beating an overmatched Pittsburgh team in the Insight.com Bowl.

Any who has ever been at Iowa State could truly relish it, and that is why it is the No. 1 sporting event of the year.

No. 2: Cael Sanderson. He was close to making it to the No. 1 spot because what he has done is indeed one of the greatest accomplishments ever in sports, but I still went with the bowl.

All Sanderson did was finish his junior season unbeaten again with a career record of 119-0.

Cael is the best wrestler, ever. He has already eclipsed Gable’s mark, and will most likely finish his career unbeaten barring a huge upset. And to top it all off, the guy is down to earth – he hates to talk about himself.

More power to you, Cael. Good luck next year. I promise you’ll be No. 1 when you win your fourth straight title.

No. 3: The ISU men’s basketball team winning in Kansas. What a huge win. I would have loved to have been able to put just the ISU men’s basketball season here, but it didn’t end as well as it should have.

Nonetheless, this team proved it is a national power and Larry Eustachy (he’s staying) proved he is an incredible coach. The team won its second straight Big 12 regular season title, but it was with the Kansas game that Iowa State proved it was for real.

The game was close the whole way, and all the Cyclones chipped in to make it perhaps one of the best-ever played between the two teams. As Iowa State looked like they were going to pull away, the Jayhawks inched back and missed on a last second three-pointer, and the Cyclones came back to Ames with a 79-77 victory.

Let’s not forget, anytime you have a winning streak in Lawrence, it’s worth mentioning.

No. 4: Bill Fennelly has always said that if he had to choose a poster girl for ISU women’s basketball it would be Megan Taylor. Well she has been proving why for the past four years and her name went down in the record books this year as she solidified her spot as the greatest Cyclone player by becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

In her final home game of the regular season against Texas A&M, Taylor put herself at the tops of the all-time rebounding chart. In the Big 12 Championship Game, she became the leading scorer in school history, how fitting, she did it by hitting a three.

She was rewarded by being picked by the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA.

And at least until Angie Welle breaks the scoring and rebounding records next year, Taylor will be the best in school history.

Well, those are my four. I’m sorry to all athletes and teams who deserve mention but didn’t get it. That is what the online message board is for.

Everyone has to admit, it has been a great year to be involved with ISU sports. We can only hope that next year will be just as good, if not better.

Until then, have a great summer.

Jeremy Gustafson is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Ogden. He is co-sports editor of the Daily