In its third decade of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, Gatorade joined with RISE Magazine to name junior forward ALEV KELTER of CHUGIAK HIGH as its 2007-08 Alaska Girls' Soccer Player of the Year.
The 5-foot-6 junior forward scored 12 goals and passed for 11 assists, helping the Mustangs to an 8-5-1 record as of May 13. An All-American selection by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the returning Alaska Player of the Year as named by the NSCAA, Kelter had recorded 43 goals and 17 assists in her career at the time of her selection. She also scored the game-tying goal in Chugiak's 2-1 Class AA state championship victory against South Anchorage in 2007. A two-time First Team All-State selection, she is a member of the United States Soccer Federation Under-16 National Team.
A member of the United States Women's Ice Hockey Under-18 National Team that won a gold medal in the 2008 world championships and a finalist in Poetry Out Loud's national recitation contest, Kelter has maintained a 3.36 GPA in the classroom. An active member of Chugiak's student government and the Saint Andrew's Church youth ministry in Eagle River, she volunteers as part of multiple community-service initiatives on behalf of Key Club International in addition to donating her time to the school's peer mediation program.
"She's big and she uses her body," said Dan Ruffner, a coach in the United States Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program. "She brings hockey to the game. She elevates the skill level everybody around her. That's what made Chugiak so great last year."
Kelter will begin her senior year of high school this fall and remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.