Alexia Archuleta (formerly Novelli) is a former player for the University of Alaska Anchorage. Originally from Anchorage, she played her first game of basketball in 8th grade at Hanshew Junior High. Her family moved to the Valley right before high school began and Alexia began her freshman year on the C Team at Colony High School. Developing into a varsity player, she left Alaska after graduation to continue her basketball career at SFCC, a junior college in Spokane. She had two double-doubles for the season; 22 points and 10 rebounds in a victory over Mt. Hood, and 18 points with 14 rebounds in a win over Columbia Basin. Alexia ended the season averaging double-digit points per game, led the starting lineup in shooting percentage, finished 2nd in rebounds and blocks, and earned a place as one of the team’s scholar-athletes.
Alexia decided coming home to play for UAA was her best option to develop as a player and to represent her home state. After two years, she joined the Wasilla High School coaching staff and in 2023 was named the new head basketball coach of Mountain City Christian Academy (formerly ACS). She hopes to inspire other Alaskan athletes to pursue their aspirations of competing in athletics beyond high school.
Michael Novelli is the co-founder of Prospect Athletics and serves as CEO of Innovate, an Anchorage based advertising and business consulting firm.
In 1999 he founded the AFL, Alaska’s first outdoor adult tackle football league, with roles not just as a player and coach, but as the leader of the organization. The AFL attracted past high school stars and athletes alike, with players able to use the AFL as a launching pad for college and semi-professional careers.
In two decades of heading up Innovate, Novelli has had roles with the Alaska Wild football team (Alaska's first professional indoor football team), and ten years with the Alaska Fighting Championship, Alaska's premier mixed martial arts organization.
With his two oldest kids having made the jump into college athletics and coaching, and three more active kids under the age of ten, Novelli is fully immersed as a parent and coach of student-athletes. He understands the opportunities that student athletics bring in youth development.