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A Wasilla High School senior standout will be recognized by the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame as one of seven winners of the hall’s Directors’ Awards.
Layla Hays has been named the Pride of Alaska 2025 Girls Athlete of the Year, and will be honored during the annual Alaska Hall of Fame ceremony June 5 in Anchorage.
Hays, a multisport standout, helped Wasilla win the 4A girls state championship in volleyball for the second straight season. She also helped the Warriors girls basketball team advance to the 4A state title game, and finish as the runner-up as a senior.
Hays played in a basketball state title game in each of her four years at Wasilla, and was part of the state championship team in 2024. She is also a three-time first-team all-state selection in basketball.
Hays will play Division I college women’s basketball for Iowa in the fall.
Other winners include: Kristen Faulkner (Female Athlete of the Year), David Norris (Male Athlete of the Year) and Jack Leveque (Boys Athlete of the Year).
Faulkner won two gold medals in cycling at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Norris broke the men’s Mount Marathon record. Leveque, a Service sophomore, was the state skimeister in Alaska prep cross-country skiing and earned multiple gold medals at U.S. Junior Nationals.
Dane Ferguson, a snowmachine star with Valley roots who won a gold medal in the X Games, will also be honored posthumously with the Joe Floyd Award. Ferguson died unexpectedly in 2024.
Anchorage triathlete Rebecca McKee and Homer High football player Jackson Snaric garnered the Trajan Langdon Awards, an honor based on leadership, sportsmanship and inspiration that’s named for the former East Anchorage and Duke basketball star.
The June 5 event will be highlighted by the next members of the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. Anchorage’s Brandon Dubinsky, an NHL veteran, and Alev Kelter, a Chugiak graduate and Olympian in rugby, make up the class of 2025.
Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.
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