Kirtland Central star Krista Tsinigine-Yazzie signs for two sports at Haskell

Kirtland Central senior Krista Tsinigine-Yazzie turned a championship spring in San Juan County into a rare college move, signing to play both basketball and volleyball at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.

The dual-sport commitment gives the Kirtland, New Mexico, athlete a path that is uncommon even for standout prep players. Tsinigine-Yazzie finished her final high school season coming off Kirtland Central’s New Mexico Class 4A girls basketball title run, a 52-33 win over Gallup on March 13 at The Pit in Albuquerque that secured the program’s 22nd state championship. Kirtland Central went 29-3 in 2025-26, adding another trophy to one of the most successful girls basketball programs in the state.

Tsinigine-Yazzie’s signing also keeps her tied to a school with a strong Indigenous identity. Haskell describes itself as a place with 140 years of cultural diversity and heritage, and its athletics department fields both women’s basketball and women’s volleyball, the two sports Tsinigine-Yazzie will continue at the college level. That combination makes Haskell a natural fit for a Native student-athlete from Kirtland Central, where championship basketball has long been part of the local sports fabric.

Her next stop comes as Haskell’s women’s basketball program has been gaining momentum of its own, with the university noting in late April that the team had advanced to the NAIA National Tournament. For Tsinigine-Yazzie, that means stepping into a college program with postseason ambitions already in place, while carrying the credibility of a title season from one of New Mexico’s top Class 4A teams.

For San Juan County, the signing is another example of a local Native athlete moving from a hometown program into the college ranks without leaving behind the broader community identity that shaped her. Kirtland Central’s title, Tsinigine-Yazzie’s two-sport future and Haskell’s Indigenous mission all point to the same pipeline: Native talent developing close to home, then advancing to a college stage built to welcome it.