When former Twin Falls resident Shaun Pohlman arrived at Dodge City (Kan.) Community College to take over a woeful volleyball program in 2007, things didn't go well to start.

After a total of seven wins in the two seasons preceding his arrival, Pohlman - who used to coach the Southern Idaho Volleyball Club - took a team of seven players and went just 4-31. That was good enough only for the cellar in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Con-ference's West Division, at the NJCAA Division II level.

Despite the struggles at a lower division, Pohlman brought the Conquistadors to Division I for 2008.

"You only get that decision every three years. I wanted to be the best of the best and in order to do that you have to play Division I. In order to get athletes recruited to the next level â€- they look at Division I rather than Division II," said Pohlman. "And the travel impact is another consideration. Most conference games for us at D-I are inside of an hour, and most conference games for D-II are two hours away."

Pohlman never questioned the move, saying that all Dodge City needed was some athletes to be able to compete.

The program got them this year, after Pohlman was hired too late to do a thorough recruiting job in 2007. The difference showed as the Conquistadors, Division II doormats a year prior, went 21-19 at the Division I level and finished fourth in the KJCCC West.

It earned Pohlman co-Coach of the Year honors for the division. But his greatest pleasure from the season was enjoying what he was doing.

"When you only win four games in a season it really wears on your patience. You tend to be extremely creative but you also tend to get outside of your coaching realm," he said. "You do things you normally wouldn't do â€- when you have seven athletes and they don't really care one way or another - they figured they had a starting spot regardless - it gets down to yelling and screaming to motivate them and that's not me. I was much happier (this season) because I was able to be myself, get down to positive reinforcement and motivation."

One of the main reasons that Pohlman could be more of himself this season was the freshman class he brought in for the 2008 campaign. He said that this group showed more maturity and leadership ability, and that translated to wins on the court.

A major key to that formula is Megan Pierson, a former Gooding High standout. Pierson started all 40 matches of her freshman season at libero, totaling a team-high 617 digs (10th nationally) in 126 sets, good for a 4.90 digs-per-set average (12th nationally). She also was one of the team's captains this season.

Pohlman said that a successful season was a just reward for what Pierson brought to the table in her freshman year.

"She brings an honest effort. Some do it on contingency of playing time or a starting spot, and that's not Megan. She works hard all the time because that's her only switch. â€-When she didn't have to do push-ups and everyone else did, she did them because she saw an opportunity to get stronger," he said.

"The leadership, she's not just a good player and she's just a good person. I know that's a huge cliché, but she's someone I can trust on and off the court to do the right thing. It's that honest, hard-working effort and leadership ability that really allowed her to get into that captain position and be successful this year."

Pierson will have some work to do to bolster her status next season, and Pohlman said she's already running more than most teammates to stay in shape. She and six teammates are eligible to return, and Pohlman hopes to have six or seven more freshmen (hopefully more from the Magic Valley, he says)for Pierson to take under their wings and begin to make Dodge City a volleyball program to be reckoned with on the national stage.

VOLLEYBALL

Whitney Bond, Twin Falls

Lewis-Clark State College

Bond is in the process of wrapping up her senior season with the Warriors (29-2). She has played in 26 of the 31 matches this season for LCSC, totaling 23 digs.

The Warriors won the Frontier Conference championship and survived a regional play-in match to reach next month's NAIA Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa. No. 14 LCSC will play No. 2 Biola (Calif.), No. 11 Madonna (Mich.) and No. 24 Lubbock Christian (Texas) in pool play next week at the national tournament.

Kelsey Bordewyk, Twin Falls

Mt. Hood (Ore.) CC

Bordewyk, a freshman at Mt. Hood, was second on the team this season with 63 kills in nine matches. She also added 30 digs.

Jordan Braga, Gooding

Skagit Valley College (Wash.)

Braga played in 12 matches for Skagit Valley, registering 71 digs.

Jessica Brice, Burley

Whitman (Wash.)

Brice started in 23 of the 24 matches she played in for Whitman (3-22) this season. She totaled 46 kills, 41 digs and 24 blocks.

Erica Ford, Twin Falls

Concordia (Ore.) Univ.

Ford played in 24 matches for the Cavaliers, digging up 134 balls and serving 11 aces.

Kalin Gibson, Hagerman

Blue Mountain (Ore.) CC

Gibson saw action in 12 matches for the Timberwolves, registering 42 digs.

Hailey Harris, Shoshone

Evergreen State College (Wash.)

Harris, who transferred from Everett (Wash.) CC, played in 16 matches for the Geoducks. She put down 79 kills to go with 16 aces and 128 digs.

Liz Williams, Twin Falls

Mt. Hood (Ore.) CC

Williams led Mt. Hood with 14 aces on the season, in nine matches played. The freshman also had 46 digs.

FOOTBALL

University of Montana Western

Six graduates of District IV play for the University of Montana Western with two that have seen significant playing time. The Bulldogs, who play in the NAIA Frontier Conference), finished the 2008 campaign at 2-9.

Minico's Bryce Hafso is a sophomore wide receiver for the Bulldogs, recording 98 yards on seven receptions. He also had three tackles. Gerriuh Nay, also a product of Minico, is a second-team safety as a sophomore. He accumulated 22 tackles and caught a pass for a 2-point conversion. Kimberly's Tyler Stukenholtz recorded one tackle as a freshman linebacker.

Rhett Jones (Minico), Trent Mallory (Minico) and Mike Sermon (Buhl) are also on the Bulldog roster.

Idaho State University

The Magic Valley had four freshman players on the Bengals squad, but only one saw action on the gridiron.

Burley's Braedon Clayson played on the offensive line in 10 games, but started none. Also on the roster are Erik Jacobson (Wood River), John van Vliet (Lighthouse Christian) and Bryant Ward (Twin Falls), who each redshirted the 2008 campaign.

The Bengals won the regular-season finale against Sacramento State in overtime to finish 1-11 and avoid a winless season.

Joel Haran, Burley

Eastern Oregon University

Haran, a junior running back, played in 11 games for the Mountaineers. He recorded 121 yards on 33 carries and caught four passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. He also accumulated one punt return and seven kick returns for more than 75 yards for a total of 245 all-purpose yards. The Mountaineers finished the season 5-6 (4-6 NAIA Frontier Conference).

Taylor Kerbs, Burley

Snow College (Utah)

This Burley product now plays for the No. 1 ranked Snow College. He's a redshirt sophomore linebacker this season for the Badgers (11-0, 8-0 Western States Football League). The Badgers will play in the Top of the Mountain Bowl for the NJCAA Division I national championship on Dec. 6.

Randy Merritt, Kimberly

Concordia Univ. (Neb.)

Merritt is a freshman defensive end for Concordia (1-9, 1-9 NAIA Great Plains Athletic Conference), though no statistical information could be found or verified.

Tyson Reynoso, Wood River

Tufts University (Mass.)

The former Wood River standout tallied 73 tackles and one interception for Tufts (4-4, 4-4 NCAA Div. III New England Small College Athletic Conference) as a senior linebacker.

Clayton 'Biff' Swan, Jerome

Weber State University

Swan started in eight of his 11 games as a senior linebacker. This season, he made 77 tackles (21 solo) with 2.5 coming for a loss of 10 yards. He also intercepted a pass, deflected another and returned a kick for 4 yards.

The Wildcats fell to 9-3 (7-1 NCAA Div. I FCS Big Sky Conference) with a loss to Eastern Washington last weekend. The loss cost the Wildcats the outright conference championship, tying them with Montana. They will travel to face Cal Poly Saturday in the first round of the playoffs.

Swan was named to the All-Big Sky Conference Honorable Mention team at inside linebacker.

Steven Toone, Gooding

Montana State

University-Northern

Toone, a sophomore defensive tackle, saw playing time in three games this season but accumulated no statistics. The Lights finished the season at 7-3 (7-3 NAIA Frontier Conference).

FALL GOLF

Randi Fischer, Twin Falls

McNeese State University (La.)

Fischer, a sophomore, recorded 736 strokes through nine scored rounds for an 81.8 stroke average. She shot a season low of 77 in October.

Abby McNeley

University of Northern Colorado

Fischer's former Bruin teammate carded 253 through three rounds at the Ron Moore Women's Intercollegiate in Denver back in September.

SOCCER

Dusty Easter, Twin Falls

Dodge City CC (Kan.)

Easter was listed on the Dodge City roster, but no statistics were available from the college. Dodge City went winless and managed just one draw.

Jill Haney, Filer

Walla Walla CC (Wash.)

Haney scored her first collegiate goal in a 10-1 win over Southwestern Oregon CC on Oct. 11. Walla Walla went 24-1 and won the NWAACC East Division before falling to Columbia Basin (Wash.) 3-0 in the NWAACC title game. WWCC posted an impressive 102-10 scoring edge over its opponents this year.

Jeff Jewell, Twin Falls

Western Wyoming CC

Jewell transferred from the University of Great Falls to WWCC. No statistics were available for the defender.

Daniela Ramirez, Minico

Mesa State (Colo.)

Ramirez, who transferred from Dodge City CC, led Mesa State (12-9-1) with nine goals and seven assists in her first year in the program. The sophomore was a NCAA Division II All-Central Region second-team selection.

Marissa Sanchez, Twin Falls

Utah State

Sanchez scored two goals in 11 games played for the Aggies (13-8-1), who won the regular season WAC title but missed the NCAA Tournament after falling in the WAC championship game to Fresno State.

Scott Thompson, Twin Falls

College of Idaho

Thompson, a defender, struck for his first and only collegiate goal this season, scoring the third goal in a 3-0 win Oct. 4 against Oregon Tech. His team went 14-3-1, including a perfect 12-0-0 during the Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season, but fell just one win short of the NAIA Tournament.

Ted Wunderlich, Twin Falls

Kansas City Kansas CC

Wunderlich scored three goals in as many games for KCKCC this season.

CROSS COUNTRY

Kyli Astle, Shoshone

Lewis-Clark State College

The 2006 Class 1A girls track champion (and two-time champion in 1A volleyball) in distance running is excelling in her junior year at Lewis-Clark State College. Astle finished sixth in the women's Frontier Conference meet, helping her team win its second straight conference team title and qualifying for the NAIA championship race. There, the women finished 14th. Astle ran the race in 18 minutes, 46 seconds to become the Warriors' top finisher. She placed 68th overall and 47th among scoring runners.

Alex Crystal, Kimberly

Northwest Nazarene University

The freshman finished 54th at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet (NCAA Div. II) as his team placed sixth. It was his only postseason appearance in the top 100. Northwest Nazarene did not qualify a team for the West Regional meet.

Ashley Rendahl, Wood River

Northwest Nazarene University

Rendahl, a sophomore, ran the Great Northwest Athletic Conference meet in 24:30 for 35th place, while her team finished fifth.