Arizona Republic’s 2026 spring high school players of the year

Here are The Arizona Republic’s high school players of the year for the spring 2026 Arizona Interscholastic Association season. The players were selected by the Republic sports staff based on coaches’ input along with performances during the season and AIA statistics. All of them were included as part of The Republic’s All-Arizona teams for each sport that were presented over the previous week. Sports on this list are listed alphabetically.

Baseball

Kellan Tom, Tempe Corona del Sol, 1B/RHP, Sr.

The Arizona State commit was voted the AIA 6A Conference Player of the Year by the coaches. He became the ace of the pitching staff, leading the Aztecs to the state final with a 7-2 record. He hit .440 with 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 43 RBIs.

Beach volleyball

Vivian Hickman, Sr., and Kate MacDonald, Sr., Xavier Prep

We select two players in this category since beach is a pairs game. MacDonald and Hickman won the Division I pairs championship. MacDonald, who committed to Boise State, finished runner-up in 2024 and 2025 while teamed with different partners. This year, she clicked with Hickman, who competed in her freshman year, but then stepped away for two seasons while focusing on indoor volleyball. Hickman, a UCLA commit, was part of the Gators’ fall indoor volleyball championship teams in 2024 and ’25 before returning to beach this spring.

Boys volleyball

Tommy Henige, Gilbert Perry, MH, Jr.

Biggest force in the state and one of the greatest impact players in the nation, the 6-foot-9 UCLA commit helped lead the Pumas to a second straight 6A championship with a dominating performance against Mesa Mountain View. He crushed every ball near him. Henige, who comes from a family of volleyball players, competed in the USA Volleyball Boys U19 National Team that competed in the world championships last summer.

Softball

Tanner Banks, Mohave Accelerated, C, Sr.

She ended up the state’s all-time record holder at any level for home runs (70), RBIs (303) and doubles (77). The Boise State commit played on baseball teams until she was 12, before staying with softball full-time. This season, she led the 2A team with a .710 batting average, 21 home runs, 20 doubles and 82 RBIs.

Tennis

Boys: Vikram Narendran, Tucson Rincon/University, Sr.

Narendran won his third straight Division I state singles championship, entering the bracket as the No. 1 seed and becoming one of six players in state history to win three straight singles titles.

Girls: Japneet Kaur, Boulder Creek, Jr.

Kaur, the No. 1 seed, defeated her teammate and No. 2 seed Michelle Bullock for the D-I title for second title in the past three years. She also won in 2024 and finished runner-up in 2025 to Bullock.

Track and Field

Boys: Ryder Hall, Snowflake, Sr.

The state’s definitive best jumper. The future decathlete at BYU spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in Arizona for the triple jump (48 feet, 11.5 inches), long jump (23-11) and high jump (6-10). He won Division IV state titles in all three jump events and the 110-meter hurdles, running 13.99 (ranked No. 3 in the state). Hall was the AIA state champion in the triple and long jump.

Girls: Imani Galera-Young, Chandler, Sr.

She put together a year to remember, breaking the Arizona state record in the 300-meter hurdles at 40.65. In the 300-hurdles, the Arkansas signee won eight out of nine races. Galera-Young swept both hurdle titles at the Division I and AIA State Championships. She ended the season at 13.53 in the 100-hurdles, No. 2 in the state.

(The Republic’s Chris Coppola contributed to this report).