Former Mica Mountain standout Alana Alva became the 76th athlete to be named Student Athlete of the Year since 1957. Alva earned 11 AIA Division III State medals and two AIA All-State medals for track and cross country and she was a two-time state champion in 2025 and 2026 as part of the 4×800 relay team.
The New Mexico State athlete graduated with a weighted GPA of 5.0 and she started the Women in Sports Club at Mica Mountain.
“The club was meant to bring together female athletes and teach leadership skills, provide a safe space for female athletes to talk about anything on their minds or issues they may have, and most importantly we talked about how we could improve attendance at women’s sporting events at our school and best support those athletes on campus,” Alva explained. We started the slogan ‘She’s the Storm, We’re the Thunder,’ and one of our club members designed merchandise that was sold all throughout the campus.”
Alva was also part of the Bolts Captains Committee for three years. During that time she helped organize a feeding through my family’s business, where members of our club packaged food and stuffed stockings on Christmas Eve for multiple hospitals across Tucson and a local women’s shelter.
INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN MY LIFE
Throughout my life I have been lucky enough to have many people who have influenced me and helped me to become the person I am today. Of all of those people, one person has made a particularly huge impact on my life, a very special person to me, my high school track coach, Coach Dawn Boxley.
Before I touch on some of the amazing things she has done for me, I would like to give a special thank you to my parents who have always supported me and made sure that I never forgot the true importance of sports, to have fun and enjoy every moment. They were always pushing me to do my best without ever putting any pressure on me, they were always there for me. Their belief in me was enough to make me think that I could accomplish anything that I put my mind to.
Coach Boxley joined the Mica Mountain track program my sophomore year of high school and I was extremely excited, not only because of all her experience as a coach, but I am also lucky enough to call her my aunt. She is so wise and knowledgeable that all her athletes trusted her. Even when she would give us crazy hard workouts like 300 repeats with little rest, no matter how challenging I never questioned her, “Boxley’s got us.”
She pushed us to work harder, stay disciplined, but also to enjoy the journey. She made me believe that I could accomplish anything, whenever I was tired or wanted to give up she reminded me how strong I was and that I could do it. She not only made me a better and faster athlete, but she gave me the confidence to believe in myself.
Coach Boxley always took her job to heart, she truly poured everything into her athletes and took the time to build genuine connections with each of us. There was nobody more excited than her seeing one of her athletes run a personal record or a good race. She celebrated our successes right along with us.
As I get ready to start the next chapter of my life, I will never forget the things that she taught me. Thanks to her I was able to turn my dream of becoming a Division I athlete into a reality. Even though I will be in college, and running for a different coach, a part of me will always be running for her. While attending New Mexico State University, I will be studying Psychology and Kinesiology, with the goal of becoming a sports psychologist and helping inspire athletes. I hope to help athletes believe in themselves the way that my coach believed in me.
TUCSON CITIZEN STUDENT-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
1957 D.L. Secrist Jr. Tucson High
1958 Donald Parsons Catalina
1959 Edward Brown Flowing Wells
1960 Terry DeJonghe Salpointe
1961 Robert Svob Catalina
1962 Ray Kosanke Tucson High
1963 Michael Aboud Tucson High
1964 Pat McAndrew Flowing Wells
1965 Charles Begley Sunnyside
1966 Eric Evett Catalina
1967 Ron Curry Tucson High
1968 Jeff Lovin Palo Verde
1969 Bruce Pawlowski Salpointe
1970 Dave Henry Sahuaro
1971 Tom Hagen Salpointe
1972 Bill Baechler Palo Verde
1973 Francisco Gomez Pueblo
1974 Richard Rucker Canyon del Oro
1975 Guillermo Robles Sunnyside
1976 Karen Christensen Rincon
1977 Michael Wing Rincon
1978 Craig Barker Amphitheater
1979 Ralph Gay Sunnyside
1980 Kristine Bush Sabino
1981 Lisa Kay Baker Sahuaro
1982 Vickie Patton Marana
1983 Martin Tetreault Sahuaro
1984 Molly Reiling Salpointe
1985 Timothy Roggeman Salpointe
1986 Jon Volpe Amphitheater
1987 Luis A. Padilla Pueblo
1988 Nicole Stern Catalina
1989 Robert Moen Flowing Wells
1990 Grace O’Neill Salpointe
1991 Angel Phillips Rincon
1992 Zenen Salazar Sunnyside
1993 Michelle Vielledent Sahuaro
1994 Julie Reitan Sahuaro and Brady Bennon Sabino
1995 Kelly Yablonski University High
1996 Joe Aguirre Palo Verde
1997 Andy Viner University High
1998 Scott Beck Canyon del Oro
1999 Glenn Schatz University High
2000 Nicole Voelkel University High
2001 Ai-ris Yonekura Catalina Foothills
2002 Philo Sanchez Sunnyside
2003 Tim Ashcraft Sahuaro
2004 Joe Kay Tucson High
2005 Tiffany Hosten Tucson High and Echo Fallon Catalina Foothills
2006 Michael Smith Sunnyside
2007 Tara Erdmann Flowing Wells
2008 James Eichberger Catalina
TUCSONCITIZEN.COM STUDENT-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
2009 Sun Park Cienega
2010 Christine Clark Tucson High
2011 LeeAndra Smith Palo Verde
2012 Rachel Ward (Pusch Ridge) and Robin Landrith (Ironwood Ridge)
2013 Mally McGarity (Marana) and Asha Esprit (University High)
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.COM STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
2014 Amanda Nicholas Sahuaro
2015 Laura McGeary Flowing Wells and Courtney Brown Flowing Wells
2016 Cheyenne Pitts Mountain View
2017 Jacqueline Igulu Palo Verde
2018 Tyson Corner Marana
2019 Luc Rosenblatt Salpointe
2020 Shana Brown Ironwood Ridge
2021 Rumur Rouille Ironwood Ridge
2022 Tanvi Narendran University High
2023 Sammy Padilla Flowing Wells
2024 Addison Scott Mica Mountain
2025 Kendall Freidinger Empire
2026 Alana Alva Mica Mountain
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