The winter high school sports season has melted to nothing, but it also has left us with some indelible impressions.

The Metro area was shut out of state championships in the winter of 2012. Its best finishes were Jefferson’s runner-up placing in Class 2A girls’ bowling, Linn-Mar’s fourth-place showing in the boys’ basketball and wrestling tournaments, and Prairie’s fifth in wrestling.

Not a bad year, not a great year.

Aside from the championships, there was some great competition on the floor, on the mat, in the pool and on the lanes. What did we learn about the winter season of 2011-12? Here’s five lasting impressions:

#5 TROPHY QUEST – Linn-Mar and Prairie made strong runs for a trophy in the state wrestling tournament, each falling just short.

Linn-Mar was just a half-point behind Iowa City West for third place. Prairie finished in fifth.  The Lions put eight wrestlers on the medal stand, Prairie six.

#4 MEMORABLE GAME – Kennedy and Linn-Mar played a basketball game that will be remembered for years in the Class 4A substate final.

Kennedy seemed to have the game, and a state tournament trip, in hand late in regulation. But Linn-Mar’s Marcus Paige scored nine points in the last 26 seconds to send the game to overtime. The Lions eventually pulled out an 83-77 double-overtime victory.

Paige scored 49 points to overshadow a brilliant performance by Kennedy’s Elliott Christians, who totaled 28.

#3 STILL STREAKING – Linn-Mar has an almost unthinkable streak of success in the boys state basketball tournament.

The Lions advanced to Des Moines for the ninth straight season, and finished in the top four for the ninth straight time. That will be a difficult streak to break ... unless the Lions up the ante next year.

#2 BACK TO ’64  - Lyndon Johnson was president of the United States, The Beatles reached No. 1 on the pop charts and Jeopardy debuted on NBC. That was the last time another team other than Washington won a boys district swimming championship.

Washington won its 49th straight district title this winter, a streak that began in 1964 with Hal Krizan as coach. Krizan, Jim Voss and Chris Cruise have been the only coaches during that remarkable run. Washington finished seventh in the state meet.

#1 FRONT PAIGE – Marcus Paige completed his high school career with a fourth straight state tournament trip and totaling more 1,695 points in his Linn-Mar career.

Paige’s teams finished 1-2-3-4 in those state appearances. His season was punctuated by that brilliant performance against Kennedy in the substate but it was a season full of excellence, as he led the state in scoring average.

Many opined that Paige was the best player the Metro area has ever produced. Before he heads off to North Carolina, Paige likely will be named Mr. Iowa Basketball.

Paige would become the Metro area’s seventh Mr. Basketball, joining fellow Linn-Mar products Todd Lumsden (1983) and Jason Bohannon (2006), Al Lorenzen of Kennedy (1984), Adam Spanich of Regis (1995), Justin Wessel of Prairie (1986) and Jefferson’s Jarrod Uthoff (2011).

HONORABLE MENTION – Tom Lilly’s continued excellence coaching girls basketball, leading Xavier to a state tournament trip ... Cedar Valley Christian’s boys basketball team went 13-10 and won its first postseason game as a sanctioned member of the Iowa High School Athletic Association ... Jeremy Cline of Prairie bowled a 300 in a match against Iowa City High at Colonial Lanes ... Prairie’s marked improvement in boys and girls basketball. The boys finished 9-13 but six games better than last year. Despite losing their last six games, the girls were seven victories better than the year before and were a tough out in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

(Mark Dukes is former sports editor of the Cedar Rapid Gazette. He is co-host of The Gym Class radio show weekdays from 3-4 p.m. on KGYM-AM 1600 and FM-106.3.)