7-04-2025 9:36pm

Alamogordo High Coach Coach Austin Drefs Joins a List of Esteemed Coaches With National Recognition

Chris Edwards Editor

AlamogordoTownNews.org and NewMexicoConservativeNews.com offers a big congratulations to Coach Austin Drefs of Alamogordo High School for being awarded the Rocky Mountain Region Coach of the Year through the National High School Strength Coaches Association.

Coach Drefs has been coaching for a total of six years, dedicating 5 years of his coaching career to the Alamogordo High School Tigers. His career highlights include:

▪️Powerlifting Head Coach for three years

▪️Varsity Football Offensive Line Coach for five years

▪️Track & Field Coach for five years

▪️Strength & Conditioning Coach for over six programs at Alamogordo High School.

Per fellow coaches and students say that “Coach Drefs is always willing to step up to support the Tigers, and the students in his care.”

Coach Drefs joins a list of just a few Alamogordo High School Coaches to receive western state’s regional and national recognition to include…

Coach Rolla Buck led Alamogordo High School to a State Title Championship win in 1950 and played the key role in the school's integration setting the stage for the “Alamogordo Model of School Integration” which was used as a blueprint integration throughout the Southern United States.

Coach Lawrence Johnson: Received national recognition as one of 11 educators nationwide to receive the California Casualty Award for teaching excellence. He was also the National Council of Secondary School Athletic Directors (NCSSAD) Athletic Director of the Year in 1999.

Coach Jason Atkinson: Named Coach of the Year for Girls Track and Field by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association (NMHSCA). His team won their first state title in 2017.

Coach Jack Cisco: A Hall of Fame coach who directed the Alamogordo defense.

Tommy Standefer was inducted into the NMHSCA Hall of Fame this year. He has been coaching for 40 years, with 32 of those years at Alamogordo High School.

Gary Hveem holds the record as the longest-tenured varsity football coach at Alamogordo High School History.

Bob Sepulveda still alive and kicking at a near age 90, is Alamogordo’s most honored Coach winning the New Mexico Coach of the Year for boy's track; 1982, 1991 and 1996. Received the Nationally recognized NHSACA Region 8 Coach of the Year in 1982, 1991 and 1996, and the Section 6 Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1996.

And finally, Coach Marilyn Sepulveda, received the New Mexico High School Coaches Association Level IV Coaching Milestone ring in 1989. She was inducted into Alamogordo Tiger Hall of Fame in 1988. She was the first AHS coach to be named Girls Track and Field Coach of the Year by the NMHSCA in 1981. She has received a posthumous New Mexico Coaches Hall of Fame Nomination joining her husband Bob, who was inducted in 1996. She will be inducted mid-July 2025, posthumously.

Congratulations to Coach Drefs award and joining the prestigious list of esteemed coaches since the 1950s from Alamogordo whose accomplishments are recognized well beyond Alamogordo.