• Tyler Haws-led Lone Peak tops in hoops again — The Knights' talented 6-5 shooting guard followed up his 5A MVP sophomore season by helping his deep team win another state title, earning Utah's Mr. Basketball honors and informing BYU coach Dave Rose that the Cougars had won the Tyler Haws Sweepstakes. What's he going to do for an encore — start shooting left-handed?

• Park City residents put U.S. skiing back on map — Lindsey Vonn won the overall World Cup skiing title — becoming the first American woman since 1983 to lay claim to that crown — and took the downhill title to boot; Ted Ligety brought home some hardware of his own, capturing the World Cup giant slalom title.

• Hoops history made at Utah State — The NCAA tournament selection committee might not have seen it this way, but 2008 was an incredibly successful and significant one for the Aggies. It will mostly be remembered for Stew Morrill becoming the all-time winningest USU coach, for Jaycee Carroll wrapping up a stellar career by becoming the school's all-time leading scorer and reaping numerous accolades, and for the team winning another regular-season WAC title. Their year ended with little fanfare as the Aggies fell in the conference tourney semifinals and then were ousted from the NIT first round.

• Utah Olympians strike gold, silver and bronze — The Beehive State had its fair share of success in Beijing. Not only did Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer win gold medals with the U.S. men's basketball team, but former BYU athletes Ryan Millar and Rich Lambourne helped the men's volleyball team win gold, too. Highland High product Logan Tom helped Team USA win an emotional silver medal after the father of their coach was murdered. And three guys with Utah ties won bronze — Salt Lake Bees standouts Kevin Jepsen and Matt Brown in baseball, and cyclist Levi Leipheimer.

• Bittersweet year for Ute hoops — While the Runnin' Ute men could brag about winning a game in the CBI to end Jim Boylen's first season — OK, brag might be the wrong word — the women ended the year on a sour note. They went 16-0 in the MWC's regular season only to lose to an 0-16 Colorado State team in the first round of the conference tournament. That led to a lower-than-expected seeding and a tough first-round matchup-turned-early-exit at Purdue.