Best of 2022: The stars, sports and stories that mattered around Fort Collins this year

What a year it was in 2022.

It was an especially fun ride in the Fort Collins-area sports world this past year.

There were unique and new stories abound, from the Rams' return to March Madness, a CSU legend retiring, new schools joining the prep fray and a flurry of state titles for our local track stars.

Here are a dozen stories that mattered in our local sports world over the last 12 months:

Rams go dancin'

The 2021-22 Colorado State basketball team was one for the ages around here.

Behind first-round NBA Draft pick and Mountain West Player of the Year David Roddy, the Rams earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time since 2013 with a No. 6 seed, their highest-ever in the Big Dance.

And it wasn't just the 25-6 record or elite success that made CSU hoops so fun.

The team featured a likeable coach in Niko Medved, easy stars to root for and a humble roster.

But they also officially welcomed Moby Madness back with thrilling home wins over San Diego State, Wyoming and Boise State.

FoCo runs this track

Even the spring snow couldn't stop them.

Yes, our local track athletes absolutely ruled the Colorado state track and field championships last May.

Fort Collins' Brooke Naughton's legendary performance earned her 5A Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year with a state-title senior sweep in the jumping events, the high, long and triple jumps.

That was hardly all of the hardware.

Poudre's Rhys Travis and Fort Collins' Dantay Johnson won the 5A triple jump and long jump titles, respectively. Rocky Mountain's Kevin Bruxvort and Fort Collins' Laura Davis took home the 5A boys discus and 5A girls shot put championships.

On the team side, Heritage Christian swept the 1A boys and girls team titles, with Jack Nauman winning two distance events and Ainsley Stanton adding another.

Liberty Common cruised to the 2A girls team title, with Isabel Allori and Brandon Bate combining for five individual state titles.

With so many trophies coming home, we won't soon forget the 2022 track and field season in Fort Collins.

Hilbert hangs it up

Many coaches have come and gone around CSU over the last quarter-century, but Tom Hilbert was the constant.

Ram fans finally had to say goodbye to the legendary CSU volleyball coach this November in a MW Tournament loss to San Diego State.

It was fitting his final match came in Moby Arena, the place where he elevated this program into one of the nation's best and most consistent teams behind a powerful, rabid community of fans.

Sure, Hilbert will be remembered for the 23 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances or 18 MW titles.

But his impact on the program's future and the fanbase he built, culminating in the first-ever volleyball sellout vs. CU in September, may leave a bigger lasting impact on Fort Collins.

Lucy Bell, record setter

The now-former Fossil Ridge girls swimming star delivered the magnum opus of her prep career at her final Colorado state swim meet.

Bell broke U.S. Olympic star Missy Franklin's decade-old time in the 200-yard individual medley, a crowning achievement for her high school tenure already.

But just for good measure, she won the 100 freestyle title not 30 minutes later and then willed the SaberCats to a 400 free relay championship with an epic 2.5-second comeback on the anchor leg.

5A Girls Swimmer of the Year? Bell left absolutely no doubt about it with a record-breaking meet.

The New Guy: CSU's Jay Norvell

While he was hired in Dec. 2021, CSU football fans really got to know new coach Jay Norvell this year.

While CSU's 3-9 record in 2022 matched Steve Addazio's final 2021 campaign, the energy around the program did a 180 this year.

Even with frustrating losses where CSU had chances to win and heavy roster turnover throughout the year, there is an optimism around CSU football under Norvell at least a half-decade coming.

Part of it is Norvell's demeanor, appealing to fans in a way previous regimes hadn't.

But the results matter, and CSU fans still largely believe the Rams' latest talented recruiting class and the culture change under Norvell will pay off, maybe as early as 2023.

Avs bring home the Cup

Okay, this isn't necessarily a Fort Collins story, but it was too big to ignore.

The Colorado Avalanche won the franchise's third Stanley Cup title and first in 21 years, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in 6 games in June's Stanley Cup Finals.

Stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Cale Makar and Gabriel Landeskog became Colorado legends with a playoff run that featured dominance and drama.

And the party raged in Fort Collins after the Avs clinched the Cup on a Sunday summer night, as fireworks flew and revelers raged in Old Town.

Alexa, play "All the Small Things" (yet) again.

Runners rule

The field stars often stole the spring show, but fall was for the runners.

Local cross country athletes brought home plenty of hardware from the Colorado state cross country meet back in October.

Fort Collins' Christian Groendyk capped an unbeaten senior season with a state title against an elite 5A field.

Not to be outdone, Liberty Common's Isabel Allori got the 3A state championship she craved, racing past the field to complete her own unbeaten campaign.

And in 2A, Heritage Christian's Jack Nauman absolutely dominated, cruising to the state title by 26 seconds.

All three athletes were named Runner of the Year in their respective classifications.

New kids on the block

We welcomed two new schools to Poudre School District in the Fort Collins-area this year!

Timanth and Wellington Middle-High Schools officially opened in August and each fielded sports teams right out of the gate, competing with just freshman and sophomores.

We love what we see already, though.

Wellington posted a strong 4-5 season on the gridiron, led by current and burgeoning star Cash Altschwager. The softball team also made regionals in year 1 and the Eagles wrestling crew has started strong in the winter season.

Timnath placed 10th as a team in 3A girls cross country with a 15th-place finish for Lily Wale. Plus, the Cubs' had multiple state alternates in 4A tennis and their cheer squad finished runner-up in Class 2A.

A (Hail)storm is coming

Speaking of newcomers, we also welcomed some local pro teams to the scene in 2022.

The Northern Colorado Hailstorm soccer team (USL League One) and Northern Colorado Owlz minor-league baseball team (Pioneer League) debuted out of Windsor last spring.

The Hailstorm especially made waves, finishing one point out of a playoff bid in their inaugural season, playing matches in Canvas Stadium and upsetting Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake in the U.S. Open Cup back in April.

With fiery manager Eamon Zayed, plenty of talented young players and TicketSmarter Stadium slated to open at Future Legends Complex in 2023, this will be a fun franchise to call NoCo's own.

Keller's star show

It wasn't just our local high schoolers. CSU had a veritable star in track and field last spring, too.

It started in the depths of winter, as Lexie Keller set a school pentathlon record and took home Mountain West Indoor Women's Athlete of the Year with a runner-up finish in the event and three other top-10 event finishes. She then finished third in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

She wasn't done.

Keller won the heptathlon at the MW Outdoor Championships in dominant fashion and then finished 6th in the event at the NCAA Outdoors, earning her All-American honors.

Maybe the best part? She's back for another season, looking to break many of her own school bests.

Best in second?

Okay, the winners take the trophy.

But we have to shout out some of our incredible runner-up teams in 2022, as some of them had legitimate claims to be the state's best after heartbreaking title losses.

The Windsor girls soccer team functionally never lost to a team in its classification, dropping only two matches to 5A powers and dominating 4A until a penalty-kicks tiebreaking loss in a 0-0 state championship game. Behind 4A Player of the Year Ella Moody, the Wizards outscored 4A competition 68-5 and were No. 1 nearly wire to wire.

And on the hardwood, the No. 1 Windsor girls and No. 2 Fossil Ridge boys teams came tantalizingly close to state titles in March, dropping hard-fought championship games at the Denver Coliseum.

The small silver lining: all three teams should be in strong position to make another run at their elusive titles this spring.

Run to remember: CSU women's basketball

Nobody saw this one coming.

The CSU women's basketball team was mere minutes away from an improbable MW Tournament title and NCAA bid last March in Las Vegas.

The Rams entered as the No. 6 seed and carrying a 3-game losing skid.

They flipped the script, winning three straight games (including one over Border War rival Wyoming) with dominant defense.

In the finals, CSU played No. 1 seed UNLV to a virtual draw for 36 minutes and still trailed by just one possession in the final minute.

The loss meant a WNIT bid instead of the Big Dance, but CSU and star point guard McKenna Hofschild has already carried momentum from that remarkable run into a strong start this season.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Best of Fort Collins sports 2022: The stories and stars that mattered