Centralia College men’s basketball coach Joe Chirhart knows as much as anyone that getting recruited as a high school athlete in Alaska can be challenging.
An Anchorage, Alaska native, Chirhart played at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey after his high school career, and he’s been in Washington ever since.
In that time, though, he hasn’t forgotten about his home state, and in his three-plus years as the head coach at CC, he’s made a concerted effort to recruit players from The Last Frontier.
“I think Alaska basketball is very under-recruited, and I think there is a ton of talent up there,” Chirhart said.
Chirhart’s latest recruiting class reflects his commitment to both Alaska and the local high school landscape.
Coming from the northernmost state will be Royce Borst, Armani Smith, and Halen Nield, a trio that Chirhart had nothing but positives to say about.
In high school, Borst was a three-time league MVP and a two-time Regional three-point champion, Smith was a first-team all-state player, and Nield won a conference MVP award while leading his team to a third-place finish in the state tournament.
While Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage provide opportunities for athletes to play at the Division II level, there aren’t opportunities at the junior college level. Knowing that, Chirhart is eager to chat with kids who he feels are under-recruited and can make an instant impact at the JUCO level here in the Lower 48.
“I think there is an opportunity to get those kids to the NWAC and really help develop them and grow,” Chirhart said. “I’d love to continue to recruit those kids and make this be a place where they see an open door … The goal was to try to build a relationship with as many Alaska coaches and Alaskan athletes as I could to really try to bridge the gap and get as many Alaskan kids to Centralia as I could.”
Javonte Walls, a rising sophomore on the CC men’s basketball team, is one recent example of an Alaskan player having a positive influence.
Walls went to Dimond High School in Anchorage, the same high school as Chirhart, and was originally planning to go to another NWAC school before things fell through.
He ended up meeting with Chirhart and committed to CC, where he redshirted his first season, the 2024-25 campaign.
“My first year, it was a learning step for sure,” Walls said. “Just being by myself, and everything was different … Having someone from Alaska helped a lot, especially Coach Joe. He just talked to me a lot and offered me help anyway he could. That was the last opportunity that I had, coming to Centralia.”
This past season, Walls’ role grew as the season went on, and he ended up starting several games down the stretch, including CC’s Round of 16 and Elite Eight games at the NWAC Tournament.
“Javonte really was a major part of our success last year,” Chirhart said. “He really anchored things down for us on the defensive end.”
Alaskan athletes have also made their mark in other sports at CC.
Paige Miller won an NWAC West Region MVP in 2024 and earned a second-team NWAC West Region nod this past winter on the volleyball team, and Kate Wisnewski scored two goals and collected three assists last season on the women’s soccer team.
With Miller and Wisnewski’s help, both teams made the NWAC Championships. It was the first time that the women’s soccer program reached the tournament, and it was the volleyball team’s second straight appearance after winning just two games in 2023.
Miller has since committed to Northeastern State University, a Division II program in Oklahoma, where she will continue her volleyball career.
As of July 16, there are six players from Alaska listed on CC’s women’s soccer roster for the 2026-27 season, and there’s two more listed on the volleyball roster. Chirhart said that there are plenty of others finding opportunities at other NWAC schools as well.
Of course, CC’s coaches are also keeping their eyes on the local talent.
Coming into the men’s basketball program this coming season is River Ridge’s Zach Ward, a 3 and D player, Elma’s Isaac McGaffey, the reigning 1A Evergreen League MVP, and Lakes’ Darius Imperial, the SPL Nisqually League MVP who averaged more than 28 points per game this past winter.
“Super excited about all those guys,” Chirhart said. “And I’m excited because I think there’s a handful of 2027 (high school graduates) that I’m looking at in the 2B’s right now, and some other 1As and 2As locally … I think there’s a handful of these local kids that we could bring in that would help us be successful.”
Chirhart’s team also made the postseason this past season, marking the men’s basketball team’s first appearance in the NWAC Tournament since 2019. Not only did the Trailblazers qualify, but they upset top-seeded Umpqua to reach the Elite Eight before falling to Skagit Valley.
Like any other year, Chirhart has had to replace his departing sophomores, nine to be exact. But with the combination of talent from Washington and Alaska and the returning experience already on the roster, the Trailblazers have their sights set on a return to the postseason.
“The new signings we got, I feel like we could go far and hopefully make NWACs again this year,” Walls said. “I look forward to coming back and stepping into that role of being a leader. I can't wait for next season.”
