The Hoosier athletic cycle came and went, and left fans feeling a spectrum of emotions. From satisfaction and excitement to disappointment and sadness, Hoosier fans experienced it all this year.

Outside of team or program success, there were plenty of interesting storylines to follow. These are my picks for the top 10 stories of the last year at Indiana.

Freshman softball player Taryn Kern had a stellar first season in Bloomington. From the moment she stepped onto the diamond dawning crimson red, fans knew she was a special player.

She went on to lead the Hoosiers to one of their most successful seasons in recent memory, with some crucial ranked wins down the stretch.

She finished the season with a .404 batting average, 23 home runs, 68 runs batted in, 68 runs scored, and 45 walks.

Kern not only won Big Ten Freshman of the Year, but Big Ten Player of the Year as well, breaking a number of single-season program records along the way.

Kern's storybook season would be much higher on the list if it did not have such a sad ending, as she entered the transfer portal at the end of the season.

This story could easily develop into one of the best in recent memory, but for now I can't put it any higher than nine.

Trayce Jackson-Davis is one of the best to ever call Assembly Hall home. After a disappointing end to the prior season, there was a lot of speculation surrounding whether or not the Hoosier cornerstone would declare for the NBA draft.

After plenty of consideration and reflection, Jackson-Davis decided his time in Bloomington was not finished, and he elected to return to school for one last ride.

And ride he did during that last season, all the way towards the top of several Hoosier record books. He will be leaving the program as one of the all-time greats, but as it was announced towards the end of the season, he will be leaving the school in good hands.

His brother, Tayven Jackson, announced he would be transferring to Indiana from Tennessee. The former Volunteer quarterback will look to make his own mark on the athletic program this season.

It is yet to be seen how big of an impact Jackson will have on the team. If he can replicate any of his brother's success on the gridiron, Hoosier football fans could be in for a fun season.

Indiana soccer is one of the most storied programs in the sport. With eight national championships to their name, they have the second most of any school in the country.

The season was off to a rocky start, with frustrating losses and draws that just felt unlucky. After losing their starting goalkeeper, Roman Celentano to an injury midway through the season, it seemed like they were in for a down year.

However, understudy JT Harms stepped up and willed the Hoosiers to an eight-seed in the NCAA tournament. Still a long shot to make a deep run, the Hoosiers kept trucking along.

Behind heroic play from Ryan Wittenbrink, Herbert Endeley, and Sam Sarver Indiana was able to reach the National Championship game against one-seeded Syracuse.

Indiana fell behind early but found themselves in with a shout with not much time remaining, only down 2-1. Endeley found himself at the edge of the box with the ball bouncing towards him, when he hit a thundering volley into the top left corner of the goal.

With the game level, extra time commenced, and the teams remained deadlocked. The Hoosiers would go on to lose in a heartbreaking penalty shootout, but their unwillingness to relent when faced with adversity earned them a spot on my list.

Mackey Arena is supposed to be one of the most difficult places to play as an away team. However, Jalen Hood-Schifino never got the memo.

In his first trip to West Lafayette, the freshman out of Montverde looked unphased for all 40 minutes on the court. He lit up the Boilermakers for 23 points in the first half alone.

He scored 12 in the second half not because of improved Purdue defensive strategies, but because he ran a very methodical offense to secure the win. He not only secured the win and a sweep of Purdue basketball but a place in the record books in the process.

His 35 points were the second most by an Indiana freshman in school history, only trailing the 36 that Jay Edwards put up against Minnesota in 1988.

Though Hood-Schifino's time in Bloomington was cut short, his time in Mackey will live forever in the memories of both Hoosier and Boilermaker fans.

Starting with convincing Jackson-Davis to return to Indiana for another year, Mike Woodson made it clear that his words resonated with players.

Hoosier fans were probably shaking in their boots seeing the core of the team depart at the end of the season. Hood-Schifino, Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson, Miller Kopp, and Jordan Geronimo all left the program for a variety of reasons.

This was the first test of Woodson's ability to secure signings through the transfer portal. He showed the whole country that he is a force to be reckoned with in recruiting circles.

Woodson was able to land signatures from three potentially impactful transfers in Kel'el Ware, Anthony Walker, and Payton Sparks. Not to mention he won over Mackenzie Mgbako while he was simultaneously pursued by Kansas.

These signings are a true testament to the belief in Woodson. After seeing what he was able to do for Hood-Schifino in just one season, there is plenty of confidence amongst potential recruits that he can coach players into NBA talents.

This story flew under the radar this year, and I think that is an absolute travesty. Antonio Laidler had an immaculate senior season for the track and field team, and not enough people are talking about it.

He kicked off the season with a number of notable races before he ever ran outdoors. By the end of the indoor season, Laidler had moved up to third in program history in both the 60-meter race and the 200-meter indoor race.

When the season transitioned outdoors, Laidler's success continued. Not only did his 4x100 meter relay team elevate themselves to fifth in school history, but he equaled the school record by himself in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.20 seconds.

Later on in the season, Laidler outdid himself in the 100m with a time of 10.19 seconds. He now stands alone at the top of the record books and is arguably the fastest sprinter in program history.

Track and field may not be a marquee sport, but Laidler deserves to be mentioned alongside some of the great Hoosier athletes of the 21st century after the season he had this year.

Andrew Capobianco may just be one of the most decorated athletes in school history, and too many people don't know his name.

Capobianco has been a mainstay on the Hoosier swimming and diving team for the last five years. This season alone, Capobianco took home more hardware than most athletes do in their entire careers.

In the Big Ten Conference Championships, he secured third place in both the 10m and 1m dives, while cruising to first place in the 3m dive. At the National Championships, Capobianco placed second in the 1m dive, and was champion in the 3m dive.

You would barely know there were other divers in the conference the way Capobianco collected Big Ten awards. In five years with Indiana, he won Big Ten Diver of the Year an unprecedented four times.

Capobianco is one of the greats, and his story belongs high up on this list.

Teri Moren has totally transformed the women's basketball program at Indiana University.

With the help of Grace Berger, Mackenzie Holmes, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish and many others, Moren took Indiana basketball to a place it hadn't been in years.

With a 16-2 record in Big Ten play, the Hoosiers ended the season as the outright conference champions.

Though Berger is one of the best to ever play in Assembly Hall, it was Holmes who stole the show for the Hoosiers this season. She was a unanimous All-Conference and All-American selection, as well as a finalist for the Wooden Award.

After a disappointing loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament, Moren's squad had already done enough to be named a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. Though they would fall in the second round to Miami, the season has to be considered a huge success.

Moren was chosen as the AP Coach of the Year as well as the recipient of the Kay Yow Award, given to the coach who best exemplifies a winning spirit, while displaying great character on and off the court.

People will say this was one of the best women's basketball teams in school history, and I can't help but ask "why stop there?" Though they lack tournament trophies to bolster their resumé, this has to be one of the best overall basketball teams IU has ever seen, regardless of gender.

In the 2021 Olympic Games, if Indiana University was a nation, they would have earned more gold medals than Argentina, Mexico, India, and Finland combined.

This fact is even more impressive when you know that all of the Indiana medals were won in swimming and diving. The Hoosiers have cultivated a tradition of excellence surrounding their swimming and diving program, and that success continued this year.

As a team, they placed fourth at the National Championships after finishing the regular season as the sixth-ranked team in the country. Ten Indiana athletes earned a combined 37 All-American honors during the week.

In the process, athletes won ten medals, shattered six different school records, and won three individual national championships.

Sophomore Carson Tyler put together an incredible performance to win the platform dive that ultimately secured his team a top-4 finish. With all the pressure on Tyler as the event was winding down, he earned a perfect score on his fifth round dive to all but secure the title of national champion.

The Indiana swimming and diving program is already one of the most storied in the sport, and it doesn't appear that the story will be finished any time soon.

It is impossible to overstate the impact that Jackson-Davis has had on the landscape of Indiana basketball since arriving in Bloomington four years ago.

In his last season as a Hoosier, he may not have achieved the team accolades he set out for, but his individual achievements were well-deserved.

Jackson-Davis was the runner-up for National Player of the Year, a member of the All-Big Ten first team, and recipient of the Karl Malone award given to the nation's best power forward.

At a time when the Big Ten is not necessarily seen as the powerhouse basketball conference it has been in the past, it was all the more impressive for Jackson-Davis to be named a unanimous All-American. He became the first Hoosier on the All-American first team since Victor Oladipo way back in 2013.

Not only did the award serve as some validation for Jackson-Davis's choice to return to school, but it signaled somewhat of a return to relevance for Indiana basketball.

As big of an impact as Coach Woodson has had on the program the last two years, Indiana basketball finishes towards the bottom of the Big Ten each of the last four years if Jackson-Davis isn't in the picture.

For his career in Indiana to culminate in a unanimous All-American selection must have meant a lot to Jackson-Davis, and I am sure the fans shared in his joy. With all Jackson-Davis did for the Indiana basketball program, he rightfully enjoys the top spot on my list.

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