Tonya Beaber HanksOne of Colorado’s top small school athletes, Tonya Beaber’s prep career included participation in volleyball, basketball, track, spirit and student council.
She was her class valedictorian, was a member of the National Honor Society and won numerous academic awards during high school. Tonya guided her volleyball and basketball teams to state titles in 1986, the first ever at Deer Trail High School.
During her four year career, though, Deer Trail was a regular visitor to the state playoffs.
A four-year letter winner in all three sports, Beaber was the 1988 Steinmark Award runner-up, made the All-State teams three times in volleyball and basketball and was a place winner in track in long jump, triple, jump, shot and discus.
When she graduated from DTHS, she held school basketball records for career points (1,619), points in a season (423), points in a game (34), career steals (234), points per game (17.8), career field goal percentage (46.9%), career free throw percentage (70.5%) and career assists (365).
Her CHSAA ranks upon graduation included the following career marks: seventh in scoring, eighth in field goals made, fourth in free throws made, third in free throw attempts and sixth in field goal attempts. She also ranked third in total points at the state tournament (210). Her college team was 49-7.
The Colorado native went on to play at Western Nebraska and graduated from Northern Colorado. She earned All-region honors playing at WN and was second nationally in free throw percentage. She went on to coach high school volleyball and softball.
The Colorado State Board of Education recognized her in 1988 for her perfect attendance through 13 years of schooling.
