Everybody in the media, newspapers, television stations and radio shows, love to publish year end lists.    The "top stories of the year" appear everywhere, for every topic under the planet. The day that you see the most of these are New Years Eve, just hours before the year changes to a new number.    Why not do one for wrestling? In a very unscientific way, here is my list of the top 10 wrestling stories of the 2003 year...    1 - Rulon returns to glory - A year ago, Olympic and World champion Rulon Gardner was recovering from a frightful disaster, in which he lost a toe to frostbite and barely survived a night lost in the snowy Wyoming mountains. Nobody was sure he would ever wrestle again, except for Rulon himself. In 2003, Gardner came back on the mats, and ultimately beat reigning World Champion Dremiel Byers for a spot on the U.S. team. At the World meet, he lost to the eventual champion from Russia, placing 10th, but once again becomes a legitimate medal hopeful for Athens in 2004. The Rulon saga continues...    2 - An amazing World Championships was held in Madison Square Garden - Never in the history of amateur wrestling has a World Championships been held on such an important public stage than this September in New York. Madison Square Garden in New York City touts itself as the world's most famous sports arena, and it is correct. To see the entire floor of the Garden covered with international wrestling mats for the World Freestyle meet, and witness thousands of fans in the stands, was a true highlight of the year. A month later, the Greco Worlds was in a too-small arena somewhere in France, an amazing contrast to the tremendous showcase that the sport had a month earlier in New York.    3 - Bush bails out on Title IX reform - After a year of public debate, headlined by the federal Commission on Opportunities in Athletics, the Bush Administration chickened out on the best opportunity to fix the problems with enforcement of Title IX. Wrestling and other Olympic sports remain on the chopping block as the proportionality quota emerged unchanged. The first stab came when on the day that the Commission issued its report to the government, Secretary of Education Rod Paige said that he would only accept unanimous recommendations (giving veto power to the commission's two feminist leaders). The crushing blow came a few months later when OCR Director Gerald Reynolds issued a weak and useless "re-clarification" of Title IX enforcement, basically locking in the system as is. Wrestling teams continue to be dropped, and sports like track and field and swimming are taking even bigger hits during the bloody spring slashing season. This all happened because White House politicians were afraid of the radical feminists, people who would never, EVER vote for President Bush. A sad, strange thing...    4 - U.S. women's team explodes onto international scene - For two days in Madison Square Garden, the U.S. women wrestlers went unbeaten, putting all seven team members into the semifinals of the World Championships, one of the most dominant U.S. wrestling performances ever. All seven eventually won medals, and the U.S. tied the powerful Japan team in the standings (losing on the tiebreaker of most golds). A month later, in Tokyo, Team USA beat Japan in the Women's World Cup, to become the world's best dual meet team. Earlier in the summer, all four U.S. women won gold medals at the first women's wrestling Pan American Games competition. After a full year under National Coach Terry Steiner and a USOTC resident program, Women's Team USA has taken a big step towards excellence.    5 - Kristie Marano, World Champion - In her home state, before the largest and most enthusiastic crowds she has ever competed before, Kristie Marano became the World champion at 67 kg in women's freestyle wrestling. She dominated all of her opponents, and won her second career World title. She was the only American world champion this year on the Senior level.    6 - Oklahoma State makes it 31 titles - The most successful college sports team of all time, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, returned to the top of the podium at the NCAA Championships with a picture perfect year, winning every competition it entered. Surprise freshman NCAA champion Jake Rosholt gave John Smith's team the extra boost needed to dominate at the NCAA Tournament, and Johnny Thompson won his second in a row to prove that he is a prime-time winner.     7 - Sanderson proves he's world class - After missing two World Championships for reasons beyond his control, Cael Sanderson finally got to show his stuff in international freestyle wrestling this year. His early season was a challenge, with losses to Cuban star Yoel Romero in the Titan Games and Pan American Games. At the World Championships, he made the finals after some impressive wrestling, ultimately losing a tight match to Russia's Sajid Sajidov. To Sanderson, it was a disappointing year. To American wrestling fans, it proved that Sanderson is truly world class and has a great shot at gold in Athens.    8 - McCoy wins silver on home mats - For years, freestyle super heavyweight Kerry McCoy has been close, but has not won a medal at the World or Olympic level. His fourth and fifth place finishes in the past were just one match short of taking home that medal. This year, wrestling before his family and friends in his native New York, McCoy made it to the gold-medal finals, losing an overtime bout to Uzbekistan's Artur Taimazov in Madison Square Garden. Minutes after his defeat, McCoy was already looking ahead to the next season, and a chance to return to the Olympics and seek a gold medal in 2004.    9 - Georgia? World Team champions in both styles? - Who would have picked Georgia, the former Soviet republic, to win a World Team title? In freestyle in New York, with a consistent team effort, Georgia edged the United States, Iran and Russia for the team trophy. A month later, Georgia again came from the pack with a balanced team and captured the team title in Greco-Roman. Georgia had never won a World Team title before, and swept the men's competition in both styles this year.     10 - Sergei Beloglazov joins USA coaching effort - Perhaps the greatest lightweight wrestler in history, Sergei Beloglazov dominated international freestyle wrestling in the 1980s winning six World titles and two Olympic gold medals for the Soviet Union. Since retiring, he has been a great international coach. USA Wrestling has added Beloglazov as its Freestyle Resident Coach, bringing tremendous technical knowledge to America's best freestyle wrestlers.     Other stories of interest included:    * Lincoln McIlravy returns to the mats, but was unable to reclaim the top spot on Team USA, as long-shot Jamill Kelly upsets a loaded field to become the No. 1 man at 145.5 pounds in freestyle. "Rocky stories" are still possible in wrestling...     * (editor's addition) - The "Night With Legends" in New York City, with Donald Rumsfeld, Dennis Hastert, John Irving, Stephen Friedman and Norman Bourlag, was an amazing time for USA Wrestling and for the sport    * The United States competes in the Takhti Cup in Iran, in spite of the international political situation (which led to Iran's decision to attend the World Championships in New York)    * Utah Valley State starts varsity college wrestling team on Div. I level    * The Saunderses, husband Townsend and wife Tricia, are named as Olympic Coaches for the U.S. women's Olympic team.    * Popular Steven Mocco wins an NCAA title, then decides to pursue his Olympic dream with redshirt year    * Garrett Lowney's injury keeps him from competing at Pan Am Games and World Championships in Greco-Roman    * Patricia Miranda appears in Newsweek's "Who's Next Issue," and emerges as a major Olympic sports story heading into Athens    * Upsets highlight NCAA Championships, led by loss of returning champion Greg Jones of West Virginia in the early rounds. Ryan Bertin of Michigan won the NCAA title at 157 pounds and Oklahoma's Robbie Waller won at 174 pounds, both pleasant surprises.    * Ali Bernard wins Junior World title in women's wrestling    * Parity