What were the Herald-Times top 10 high school moments from 2022? Here's the list.

From dramatic double-overtime wins and the untimely passing of a teammate to state medals earned by hundredths of a second, here's a look back at the top area high school sports moments of 2022:

1. Bloomington North boys' run to semistate

By the end of the 2021-22 boys' basketball season, Bloomington North (24-4) had certainly earned its spot in the final four and came awful close to playing for the Class 4A title for the first time since 2003. It was a rocky road just to get out of the Martinsville Sectional. It started with a shaky 48-37 win over Columbus East with the Cougars rescued by a monster 23-point, 20-rebound game by JaQualon Roberts, who would go on to be named an Indiana Junior All-Star and sign with Vanderbilt. Game 2 was an all-time nailbiter, a 60-55 double-overtime win over Columbus North with almost too many clutch moments on both sides to mention. After that, North had to come back 24 hours later and dispatch rival Bloomington South, 32-28 in OT. Regional saw North sweep aside Evansville North 63-45 before falling behind Franklin, 43-34, in the third quarter of the final. An 18-2 run took care of that deficit as North won its 17th straight, 75-69. It all came to an end at the Washington Semistate in a 61-55 loss to favored Indianapolis Cathedral. But not without a huge fight after falling behind by 19 in the second quarter. The Cougars managed to tie it with 1:40 to go before the Irish recovered and went on to win the state title in a rout the following weekend.

2. Kristina Paegle wins more gold

Bloomington South senior Kristina Paegle finished off an incredible 365-day span that saw her compete in the Olympic Trials, set junior world records while representing the USA in Europe, and sweep the 100 and 200 freestyles in record-setting fashion at the IHSAA girls' state swimming finals. The Indiana University recruit won the 100 title for the third year in a row and after coming up fractions of a second short in the 200 the past two seasons, was determined it wouldn't happen again. In doing so, she set both state records with times of 48.00 and 1:45.02 in the state prelims and broke the school record in the 50 (22.38) starting off a relay.

3. Up, up and away for Hadley Lucas

Bloomington North's Hadley Lucas is just getting started, so figure she'll be on the year end lists in 2023 and 2024 as well. She became the first sophomore to sweep the throws (discus and shot put) at the IHSAA girls' state track meet in June. She's the first Cougar girl to win a shot put title and just the second from Monroe County (Edgewood's Stacy Martin, 1999). She was the third Cougar to win a state discus title, following her coach, Sara Hamidovic (2000) and Rachel Deloney (2005, 2007-8). And while she was at it, she broke both school records with a 49-7 shot put and a discus heave of 163-8.

4. T-Birds lose a friend and teammate

When Eastern Greene football coach Travis Wray woke up on Sunday, Oct. 9, his mind was on the anticipation of that night's IHSAA football sectional draw and getting his team ready for their last game of the regular season at North Central. But the news that junior receiver and corner Jedd Cummings had been pronounced dead after a car accident earlier that morning changed all that. He had to be more than a coach now, more than ever. His team made it through the week, attending the funeral on Thursday, then rallying to win that Friday, 34-28.

5. Nick Shirley makes a racket

Bloomington North senior made the most of his second chance. Getting back to state for the first time since his sophomore year, Shirley made a run to the title match in the IHSAA state boys' tennis singles tournament before falling in the finals. Regional was relatively easy. State was not. A day after dealing with cramping late in a 6-0, 7-6(5) win to make the final four, Shirley had to fight through a three-hour 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 win over Tyler Li of Culver Academies after trailing 3-0 in the third set. Two hours later, he lost to Aaron Gu of West Lafayette Harrison, 6-4, 6-4 but was still the first Cougar to medal at state since 2017.

6. Delaney Ruhlman a runner-up

Bloomington South junior Delaney Ruhlman won his 100th match and made another run to a state championship bout, this time at 152 pounds. But Crown Point wrestlers have been kryptonite for Ruhlman, who lost 4-3 to Sam Goin. Ruhlman went 35-2, both losses by one point, last year following his loss in the 138 finals in 2021 to Jesse Mendez (who never lost a high school match). This fall, Ruhlman is ranked No. 1, remains undefeated and signed to join his older brother Tristan at Purdue next season.

7. North gymnastics breaks through

Hard to imagine a more pressure packed turn on balance beam. Bloomington North's gymnastics team was assigned to that apparatus at the end of the Franklin Central Regional with everything on the line. The Cougars came through, Sofia Garcia's 9.45 and Jessica Floyd's 9.3 vaulting North to a second place with a 107.225 for its first trip to the state championship as a team since 1981. The Cougars would place seventh at Ball State the next weekend and head coach Andrea Smith would step down as coach.

8. Paging Ben Morrison

Five snaps into the sectional championship game, Bloomington South running back Gavin Adams was ripping through Bloomington North's defense for a 26-yard gain. But after the tackle, his night was done after injuring his left ankle. No problem, just bring on the backup and Ben Morrison ran it 35 times for 215 yards, both career highs, and two touchdowns as the Panthers prevailed, 28-7. Oddly, Morrison wouldn't get a single carry in the regional, getting injured on the opening kickoff.

9. No time to waste for D'Andre Black

Coming up .002 seconds short of a medal has to be as frustrating as it gets. That's where Bloomington South's D'Andre Black found himself at the end of his sophomore boys' track season, mulling over a sliver of time that left him in 10th place after the preliminaries of the 110 hurdles at the state track meet. With some help, he gathered himself and turned in a 39.46 in the second heat of the 300s and awaited his fate. Again, it came down to a microscopic time frame, but on the good side this time. He was eighth by .01 over ninth and .04 out of 10th, to earn his first state medal.

10. 'Happy' Gilmore finds a groove

Few boys' high school golfers in the state had a hotter May than Bloomington South junior "Happy" Gilmore. Regardless of the weather, he sizzled, ripping off three rounds of 68 (4-under at Brownsburg, Muncie Central and Providence Invites) and winning a Conference Indiana title with a 2-under 70. He didn't slow down in June, either, firing a 1-under 70 to win medalist honors and lead South to the title at Cascades in the Bloomington North Sectional. Then it was back to Champions Pointe where Gilmore shot a 72 to finish second and lead the Panthers to a 292 and their first regional title since 2008. He would finish seven over at state, placing 17th overall.

Other top moments (in no particular order): South's David Kovacs and Lukas Paegle and North's Jay Stewart have impressive freshman debuts at state boys' swim meet; North's Kyle Clark and South's Ryan Rheam medal at state cross country meet, North takes seventh; Clark, Nola Somers Glenn medal, break school records at state track meets; Eastern Greene's Anna Tieman makes state in the long jump and 200; North QB Dash King breaks school single game passing yardage record; Travis Wray brought back as Eastern Greene football coach; Greg Ratliff steps down after long run as Edgewood wrestling coach; RB James Lewis breaks Eastern Greene single game rushing record against Mitchell; Eastern Greene announces it is starting a soccer program; Edgewood boys' cross country makes semistate as team for first time since 2008; South baseball coach Phil Kluesner picks up career win No. 300.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: What were the top 10 high school moments from 2022?