Alaska sports notebook: Juneau’s Kai Ciambor named Gatorade Player of the Year for boys soccer and UAA basketball teams continue to build

Being named Gatorade Player of the Year was a goal that motivated Juneau-Douglas soccer player Kai Ciambor since he first laid his eyes on the banners of the previous recipients of the prestigious honor hanging off the school’s balcony. This past Thursday, the recently graduated senior was named Alaska’s 2025 honoree for boys soccer.

“Now that my four years of high school soccer is now over, I understand that this award is so much more than a personal accolade,” Ciambor said. “Winning an award like this wouldn’t be possible without having teammates that day-in and day-out provided an environment that remained competitive and uplifting, and a coaching staff that sparked the growth within our program.”

The senior midfielder recorded 16 goals and 12 assists in his final season and led the Crimson Bears to the Division I state semifinals, where they narrowly fell to eventual state champion West. He was also named Railbelt Conference Player of the Year and finished his career with 64 goals, 36 assists and two Division II state titles in back-to-back years from 2023-2024.

“Kai is a player that makes every type of impact on a game,” West Valley head coach Damon Crutcher said in a statement. “You can point to his ridiculous foot speed, ball-handling ability or his technical release of the ball. On top of that, Kai has a brilliant in-game IQ.”

Off the pitch, Ciambor maintained a 3.82 GPA in the classroom and volunteered locally as part of a community beautification project as well as packaging food for the homeless. In the fall he will he taking his talents to play for the men’s soccer team at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.

“I’m grateful for the trust they all had in me and my aspirations, and I am also thankful for the Gatorade committee and coaches statewide that made this goal possible,” Ciambor said.

Switching from the pitch to the gridiron, one of the state’s top football recruits has already found his new home at the next level with another year in high school left to spare. On Thursday, Bartlett star defensive tackle Deuce Alailefaleula announced his commitment to play football at Boise State University, a Division I institution competing in the Mountain West Conference at the FBS level which is the highest of the NCAA subdivision classifications.

“What sold me was how they are going to develop me as a player and also as a man outside of football,” Alailefaleula said. “I felt the connection with all the coaching staff like if I was talking to friends and family but when we (were) talking about business it was all ears and eyes from there.”

Alailefaleula had been in talks with the coaching staff since January and through further conversations, he said “my heart just felt like this is the place for me.” One of his hopes is to create a pipeline of top talent from the 49th state to the Broncos program.

“I’m all about helping getting Alaska on the map,” Alailefaleula said. “It was hard getting eyes on me from Alaska because we get overlooked so much that kids move out of state to get looked at. I just proved that it is possible and I can say I’m one of many.”

Alailefaleula is far from the first elite talent from Alaska to make it to the highest level of college football, he’s just the latest. Others in recent years who have trailblazed a path for him include West’s Aaron Hampton, Dimond’s Brandon Pili, South’s Edefuan Ulofoshio and Palmer’s Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu.

On the college sports scene, both of the University of Alaska Anchorage basketball programs were busy making moves on the recruiting trail. The men’s team is adding one of the top junior college talents the West Coast had to offer in guard Elijah Mobley.

Mobley spent the past two seasons starring at Las Positas College in Livermore, California, where he tallied 1,022 points in 60 games with averages of 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals. He was named to the All League First Team in both seasons and finished as the second-leading scorer in Coast-North Conference last season with an average of 19.3 points per game.

“We are excited that Elijah has decided to join our program,” UAA head coach Rusty Osborne said in a statement. “He is a very good athlete and can really attack in transition. He has a true scorer’s mentality without being selfish. Although not a huge three-point threat, he gives us a different dimension with his ability to attack the basket to score or get fouled. We also feel he has the desire and ability to be very good on the defensive end in our system. We needed to become less one-dimensional offensively, and Elijah adds that. He will complement some of our other pieces very well. He plays hard, and I think our fans are going to enjoy watching him compete.”

New Seawolves women’s head coach Matt Thune is adding more new recruits to the roster in his inaugural season at the helm of the program for the 2025-26. Last Thursday he announced that Lillee Duffin, Mahaila Harrison, Brooke Leo and Faith Mersburgh had all signed scholarship agreements.

Harrison and Mersburgh were revealed earlier this month while Duffin and Leo are the latest signees. Duffin is a 6-foot-1 forward who played two seasons of junior college at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon. As a sophomore last year, she was named All-NWAC South Region Second Team after averaging 10.3 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and shot .530.

“Lillee is a forward who can play both inside and out on the perimeter,” Thune said in a statement. “She has a unique eye for rebounding the ball at a high rate, as evidenced by some of her 20-plus rebound games while at Lane. I am especially excited about her vision of the game and how she makes the right reads as a forward. Lillee averaged 2.7 assists last season and had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, which will be a benefit at her position in our offensive system.”

Leo is a 5-11 guard and is just the second-ever British player in women’s program history. She represented both England and Wales in international competition in Northampton, England. She was the team MVP for the Charnwood College Riders of the WEABL each of the past two seasons. Leo led her team to the Northern Division title last year and will be classified as a freshman with four years of eligibility at UAA.

“Brooke is a hard-working wing who will bring length and athleticism to our team,“ Thune said in a statement. ”She has enjoyed success internationally in the UK and is mature beyond her years due to the structure of living away from home while pursuing her basketball dreams. She can hit shots from the perimeter, attack mismatches, and battle inside. Her versatility and competitive spirit will allow her to hit the ground running here at UAA.”

Sticking with women’s hoops but transitioning to the highest level of the sport, Anchorage’s Alissa Pili logged her second-most minutes and recorded her most points of the WNBA regular season this past Saturday. In a 101-78 win for the Minnesota Lynx over the Los Angeles Sparks, the second year pro and 2024 top-10 pick scored eight points in 10 minutes of action. She did so by going 4-of-5 shooting and also nabbed a pair of rebounds in addition to picking up three personal fouls.

Ketchikan’s Isaac Updike ran a personal best mark of 8 minutes, 13.64 seconds, and was the first to break tape in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Portland Track Festival on Saturday. In doing so, the 33-year-old not only shaved almost four seconds from his previous best time but it also marked the 13th best in U.S. history and met the standard to compete in the world championship. His last time representing the nation at the international stage was as a member of Team USA in 2023.

A pair of former elite collegiate skiers who are currently training with Alaska Pacific University won the Bird Ridge Full Climb trail race this past Sunday on Father’s Day. Anchorage’s Luke Jager won the men’s race in a time of 39 minutes, 58 seconds while Fairbanks’ Kendall Kramer won the women’s race with a mark of 45 minutes, 30 seconds.

2025 Bird Ridge Hill Climb

Bird Ridge Full Climb Male Overall

1: Luke Jager, Anchorage, 39:58; 2: Lars Arneson, Anchorage, 40:34; 3: Michael Earnhart, Eagle River, 41:46; 4: Galen Hecht, Anchorage, 42:08; 5: Ari Endestad, Anchorage, 42:32; 6: Kurtis Brumbaugh, Anchorage, 42:02; 7: David Ryland, Eagle River, 44:09; 8: Joshua Taylor, Wasilla, 44:10; 9: Chris Osiensky, Anchorage, 44:27; 10: Beck Haywood, Anchorage, 44:29; 11: Garrett Butts, Anchorage, 44:47; 12: Blake Hanley, Anchorage, 45:25; 13: Taylor Turney, Anchorage, 45:28; 14: Matthew Novakovich, Anchorage, 46:15; 15: Christopher Maus, Anchorage, 47:12; 16: Ethan Howe, Anchorage, 48:08; 17: Dylan Prosser, Anchorage, 48:08; 18: Ethan Eski, Anchorage, 48:22; 19: Mike Garvey, Anchorage, 48:26; 20: Breyden Nottingham, Eagle River, 48:27

Bird Ridge Full Climb Female Overall

1: Kendall Kramer, Fairbanks, 45:30; 2: Klaire Rhodes, Anchorage, 46:16; 3: Viviana Mina, Eagle River, 47:57; 4: Renae Anderson, Minneapolis, MN 48:11; 5: Meg Inokuma, Palmer, 48:39; 6: Katey Houser, Palmer, 49:21; 7: Taylor Deal, Anchorage, 49:21; 8: Shauna Severson, Eagle River, 50:23; 9: April McAnly, Eagle River, 51:17; 10: Sarah Cosgrave, Anchorage, 54:53; 11: Robin Welling, Anchorage, 55:11; 12: Lauren Spinelli, Anchorage, 55:26; 13: Megan Neale, Anchorage, 55:29; 14: Marit Flora, Anchorage, 55:46; 15: Zoe Copp, Anchorage, 56:37; 16: Calista Zuber, Anchorage, 56:37; 17: Audrey Hogenkamp, Carbondale, CO 57:32; 18: Sofija Spaic, Palmer, 57:34; 19: Alison Matthews, Anchorage, 58:03; 20: Eva Marley-Jester, Anchorage, 58:34

Jack’s Bench Boys Overall

1: Thale Randall, Willow, 21:35; 2: Finn Dudley, Anchorage, 24:05; 3: Denis Prosser, Anchorage, 24:47; 4: Liam Cuddy, Anchorage, 27:33; 5: Clark Brownson, Anchorage, 30:13; 6: Jonah Jacko, Anchorage, 31:35; 7: Agustin Inostroza, Anchorage, 32:02; 8: Finn Hamilton-Iverson, Anchorage, 34:15; 9: Julian Salao, Anchorage, 35:27; 10: David Taylor, Anchorage, 40:11

Jack’s Bench Girls Overall

1: Hana Varnell, Anchorage, 30:21; 2: Rienzi Witmer, Anchorage, 31:49; 3: Colette Leveque, Anchorage, 36:38; 4: Sophie Novakovich, Anchorage, 40:08; 5: Evey Oney, Eagle River, 42:14; 6: Jane Jacko, Anchorage, 45:50