Jun. 19—CHEYENNE — Cheyenna Alvarado considers herself organized, self-motivated and good at balancing her time.
She’ll need to be all those things after signing to play both basketball and soccer for Northwest College in Powell.
“I couldn’t decide which sport I wanted to play because I love both sports so much,” Alvarado said.
Alvarado was a second team all-state pick on the basketball court after helping Cheyenne East win the Class 4A state championship. The 5-foot-6 guard averaged 8.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 2.1 assists per game for the Lady Thunderbirds.
“She is relentless, a competitive, a total team player and a really good defender,” East coach Eric Westling said. “She has the mindset that she’s never going to quit or stop until the whistle blows. She never takes plays off, she’s always in the mix and responds to any mistakes with hustle and grit.”
Alvarado said she wouldn’t describe herself as an aggressive player until her junior year.
“I saw how others played and realized I had to get aggressive too and not be weak,” she said. “My junior season, was the first year I was happy with how aggressive I was.
“The coaches started giving me minutes after I stepped up and showed how aggressive I was.”
Alvarado grew up playing soccer, but decided to skip her freshman season. She missed the sport so much she decided to play as a sophomore. Lady T-Birds soccer coach Rebecca Valdez’s description of Alvarado’s play on the pitch is similar to Westling’s description of her play on the court.
“She is a relentless player,” Valdez said. “She works hard and is kind of quiet. She is going to give whatever team she’s on all she’s got. She is like a gnat. She is a pest that just keeps coming at you.
“If she loses the ball, she is going to work 10 times harder to get it back. She is going to be a tough player for us to replace.”
Alvarado will play in the Wyoming all-star soccer match today in Gillette. She played in the Wyoming-Montana all-star basketball series last weekend.
“I’m super excited to play with some players I’ve never played with before and meet some new people,” Alvarado said.
Jeremiah Johnke is the WyoSports editor. He can be reached at jjohnke@wyosports.net or 307-633-3137. Follow him on Twitter at @jjohnke.