It's a weird feeling and something that really has yet to hit me, but after spending most of my life for the last year and a half observing, critiquing and reporting on every sport imaginable in the Marshall area, I now bid farewell, as today will be my last day with the Independent.

I've been blessed with having a staff that not only cares about the teams and the players, but also the communities as well. Their hard work and determination not only made my job a lot easier but incredibly rewarding.

I think back to my first couple weeks working as a sports writer under previous sports editor Andy Rennecke and everything still seems so fresh.

Growing up playing hockey, watching hockey and writing about hockey, it was only fitting that my first real test be at the Minnesota Class A State Girls Hockey Tournament after the Marshall girls won the Section 3A Championship over New Ulm 5-2 in Redwood Falls.

The Tigers faced two tough tests at state and after failing to score a goal in the previous year, Jill Jacobs made the trip even more memorable when she was able to find the back of the net in Marshall's final game of the season, giving the senior something to remember from her final moments on the ice as a Tiger.

My state experiences continued with wrestling, and one thing I had never imagined was the quality of wrestling in the southwest part of the state. Growing up in the Twin Cities, I was exposed to a lot of different powerhouse schools - high school and college - but hey, it was Minneapolis and St. Paul, what else do you expect?

But when staring at my list of over 40 individual area wrestlers and of course the Canby team, it became apparent that the Marshall area was a special place when it comes to wrestling.

The state wrestling tournament was an atmosphere I had never experienced before. My brother used to wrestle back in his high school days, but he never qualified to compete on a state mat, so the state wrestling meet was a little bit of a surprise.

I remember looking up at the seats of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and was blown away with how packed the place was, especially for the team competition. There wasn't an empty seat in the lower bowl, not to mention people peppered around the upper bowl, all trying to get their best view of some of the state's best talent.

In that year, the area crowned one individual champion and the Lancers finished runners-up to Jackson County Central in the team competition.

The individual champion was Christian Skillings, who was wrestling at 103 pounds then. It was his first championship and now he has added to that total after winning at 112 pounds last year.

With spring came the state golf tournament.

The Marshall boys and the Dawson-Boyd boys golf teams were the two teams I was sent to cover and then individual qualifiers as well, but being a high school golfer myself, it was something I could definitely appreciate as I watched these high school kids teeing it up in front a gallery of fans, reporters and photographers. This was perhaps the first gallery some of them had ever played in front of but they all managed to play through the nerves and battle the links to finish with some impressive scores.

The Tigers went on to finish sixth and were led by Tony Krogen, who cracked the top 20 for his first time with a tie for 17th. The Blackjacks went on to finish fourth after the tournament was cut short due to rain.

That was the final state tournament I covered before taking over as the sports editor in mid-October after Rennecke left. I was able to sneak away for a few glimpses of state tournament action after that, and one of the true high school highlights of my time here came a few weeks ago when I was able to cover the Minneota Viking football team in the Class 1A State Finals in the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

It was a long day that began with me leaving Marshall at about 1 a.m. to catch the 10:15 a.m. kick-off. I rolled into town, grabbed a quick bite and headed right to the Dome. Who needed sleep? This was state football.

When the players sprinted through the tunnel - the exact same tunnel the Minnesota Vikings walk through every home game - you could see it in each kid's eyes that it was going to be a special day. The nerves, the excitement and a hint of shock of finally making it to the big stage, all of it was there.

The day ended with a Viking championship as they took down their Little Sioux rivals Adrian 42-21 to win their fourth-ever state championship.

That truly was an experience like no other. Watching these high school athletes achieve a goal they had set out for years ahead of time and then to finally achieve. Those are the types of moments that never go away.

But to go along with all these great high school moments I was able to witness first-hand, I can't possibly go without mentioning what may be the most exciting season I will ever encounter and it came just months after stepping into my role as the sports editor.

I had still been a Marshall resident for less than one year, but even if I had been a native I still probably wouldn't have expected to be a witness of what the Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team had accomplished last season.

A team that failed to have a scorer average double digits in points, yet still prove to be one of the top eight teams in the country. It was not only a shock to the area but a shock to the nation.

Those men were something special claiming the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season championship and the North Central Regional title, and to top it off, they were able to capture both in front of a home crowd at the R/A Facility in Marshall.

It's funny to look back at all these moments and think how they've all come in my short time here in Marshall. But the impressions of the players, the coaches, the teams and the community from all these instances will last long after my time here in Marshall, making me feel gratified to just be part of it all.