With the year coming to a close it marks the time of the year when everyone looks back at all the events and happenings over the course of the year. We at Kanzaland radio thought there's no better way to close out a great year of Kanzaland area sports with a Top 10 countdown of the top Kanzaland area sports moments in 2012.

We will announce the top 10 on the Kanzaland sports reports during the week leading up to the number one announcement on December 31st. You can listen to the sports reports throughout the day on 103.9 KNZA and 92.1 KMZA to find out the top sports moments and also you can follow them online here, too.

2012 Kanzaland Sports Top 10 Moments:
#10 Centralia Native, Bob Fischer Gets National Attention for His 14 Guinness World Records
#9 John Riggins and Family has Centralia Football Field Dedicated to Them

Kanzaland Sports 2012 Moment #8:
Highland CC Makes Noise on the National Sports Scene at Community College Level

The year 2012 saw many multiple national tournament and championship appearances by the Highland Community College Scotties. It was a year of the Lady Scotties as all the national appearances were made the Lady Scotties this 2012 year.

Looking back at the 2012 year for the Scotties, actually takes us slightly back to 2011 for a bit with the Lady Scotties basketball team having their best season in quite a long time as they finished with 28-4 record and lost to the #1 team in the country, Johnson County in the regional finals. The 28-4 record is by far the best record for the Lady Scotties in quite some time and the first winning record since 1984, as the Scotties were even ranked as high as eight during last year.

With their performance on the hardwood the Lady Scotties saw their Head Coach, BJ Smith and top player from last year, Kathy Thomas earn top individual honors. Smith leading the Lady Scotties to such a great season earned the 2012 Russell Athletic/WBCA Coach of the Year award, while Thomas who lead the Scotties in scoring was named a first team All-American and is continuing her basketball career collegiately at Iowa University.

Even with a slightly revamped roster and only nine players this season coach Smith has the Lady Scotties riding high yet again with a perfect 13-0 record and a national ranking of number four. The 13-0 record includes a win over then #1 Johnson County this season.

Success wasn’t just enjoyed on the hardwood by the Scotties, as the Ladies Scotties performed well at the Outdoor Track and Field Championship, Nationals for cross country and the softball team made the national tournament.

Lady Scotties Track and Field squad just missed out on what would have been their fifth Top 20 finish in school history at the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championship, as they placed 21^st. The performances at the championship were highlighted by Centralia native, Becca Hasenkamp who tallied a third place finish in the javelin, earning her All-American honorable mention honors. While, her teammate, Mary Kate Taylor finished with two Top 10 finishes in the 10,000 meter and 3,000 steeplechase.

Taylor’s success at Highland hasn’t stopped as when she hit the campus this fall she was competing on the cross country team and she performed well there, also with a 16^th place performance at Nationals, registering a time of 19:04. Taylor had that performance in a competition that had 343 individual competitors; her performance earned All-American status from the Division I NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association. While, Taylor had individual success at the national level competition for Highland the team enjoyed a great day at Nationals, also as they registered an eighteenth place performance as a team out of 40 teams and 64 colleges competing.

Of course there is the Lady Scotties softball team who also had a great making the NJCAA Division II tournament for the third straight year. Lady Scotties went into the tournament with a national ranking of eighth and went 1-2 at the national tournament, but overall finished with a 49-13 record on the year. The Lady Scotties performance on the field had many highlight, but perhaps the biggest highlight was the dominating performance of pitcher, Zuzana Kudernatschova who went 28-6 for the Lady Scotties with a 0.445 ERA, 342 strikeouts and maybe the biggest highlight of the year outside of making the national tournament as Zuzana pitched a perfect game for Highland. Her performance for the Lady Scotties earned her NJCAA All-American first team honors, as she continues her softball career at Hartford University.

Overall 2012 saw Highland Community College in the national scene with some of their sports and they look to make 2013 another year of great athletic success.