Photos: Southern Arizona's spring sports all-stars
The best of 2013: 780 high school student-athletes made the list in baseball, softball, track & field, tennis and boys volleyball. Depicted in this gallery are the eight athletes of the year. Find links to the complete list of honored athletes by sport in the corresponding image captions. Also in the captions, find links to high school sports coordinator Daniel Gaona's blog entries for each player of the year.
2013 spring softball and baseball high school all-stars
Empire softball pitcher Kelsey Smith and Tucson High baseball pitcher Alex Robles are the softball and baseball players of the year for the 2013 spring season. Smith was 11-3 as a pitcher, hit 15 home runs and had 75 RBIs for the Ravens. Robles batted .505 with 29 RBIs and went 9-2 with 71 strikeouts on the mound for Tucson. Ironwood Ridge's Randy Anway was named softball coach of the year, and Desert Christian's Grant Hopkins is the baseball coach of the year.
2013 spring boys and girls track & field high school all-stars
Salpointe's Alyssa Thompson and San Manuel's Wayne Newman are the Southern Arizona girls and boys players of the year in track & field. Thompson, a senior, won four state championships (triple jump, long jump, 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles). Newman won three state titles (110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and long jump). Pusch Ridge Christian coach Elmer Yazzie is the girls track & field coach of the year, and Tucson High School's Janet Harvey is the boys coach of the year.
Click to see all of the first-team, second-team and honorable mention athletes for track & field.
Click to see Daniel Gaona's blog on the girls' track all-stars.
Click to see Daniel Gaona's blog on the boys' track all-stars.
2013 spring boys tennis high school all-stars
Catalina Foothills freshman Mike Lee is the Southern Arizona boys tennis player of the year. He went 14-0 this season and won the Division II singles state title. Ironwood Ridge's Ryan Bais was named the 2013 spring coach of the year.
Click to see all of the first-team, second-team and honorable mention athletes for boys tennis.
Click to see Daniel Gaona's blog on the boys tennis all-stars.
2013 spring girls tennis high school all-stars
Rachana Bhat, left, and her sister Kirtana are back-to-back Arizona state doubles champions from Catalina Foothills and co-players of the year in girls tennis. Fellow Falcon Kristie Stevens was named coach of the year.
Click to see all of the first-team, second-team and honorable mention athletes for girls tennis.
Click to see Daniel Gaona's blog on the girls tennis all-stars.
2013 spring boys volleyball high school all-stars
Salpointe Catholic's Jimmy Gehrels is the boys volleyball player of the year. The 6-4 Pepperdine-bound outside hitter led his team in kills per set and helped the Lancers become the only Southern Arizona school to reach the state quarterfinals. His coach, Amy Johnson, was named coach of the year.
Click to see all of the first-team, second-team and honorable mention athletes for boys volleyball.
Click to see Daniel Gaona's blog on the boys volleyball all-stars.