6. Winter Olympics

In the first Winter Olympics Games since Salt Lake City was the 2002 host, two Utah athletes won gold medals:

• Ted Ligety of Park City, at age 21, was the youngest American skier to win a gold medal. He never was the fastest kid on the course in his early years, but he was in Torino, Italy, this past February. His win earned him the nickname "Ligety Split." Some describe his style as wild and crazy, and say his strength and desire keep him upright and fast — very fast.

• Shauna Rohbock, of Orem, won a silver medal with brakewoman Valerie Fleming in the two-woman bobsled.

7. Women's basketball

Utah (27-7) reached the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight for the first time, and BYU posted its best record ever by going 26-6.

The Utes, led by Kim Smith and Shona Thorburn, were a step away from reaching the Final Four — losing a heartbreaker in overtime to eventual national champion Maryland. The Cougars claimed their first regular-season title since 1992-93 and climbed as high as No. 16 in the national polls.

The WNBA came calling with Smith and Thorburn being drafted in the first round. BYU's Ambrosia Anderson was taken in the second round.

8. Arena football

The Utah Blaze, the state's new Arena Football League team, got off to a predictably rough start as an expansion franchise despite having AFL Hall of Fame coach Danny White on the sidelines. But the team rallied in the final quarter of the season to finish 7-9 overall, giving the Blaze an unlikely trip to the playoffs. The postseason was short-lived, however, as Utah lost to Arizona in Phoenix.

In addition, the first year was a box-office success. An AFL-best 15,498 fans per game showed up to watch the team play in the Delta Center. Offseason free-agent signings in late 2006 make the future on the field look bright, too.

9. Real Salt Lake

The year after a 2005 expansion season to forget, Real Salt Lake made great strides in 2006, narrowly missing the playoffs.

With a bevy of new faces, including Jeff Cunningham, Chris Klein, Carey Talley and Scott Garlick, Real finished with a 10-13-8 record. RSL was one of the best teams in MLS after the all-star break, but it never could fully overcome its terrible start.

Its biggest news might have been an offseason trade in early December with D.C. United that brought teen sensation Freddy Adu to Salt Lake.

10. Cross country runners