Russellville athletes sign with colleges after successful high school seasons
PHOTO BY BRANNON KING - Ahsly Garcia, Russellville, is joined by her parents as she signs to play soccer at UA Cossatot.
PHOTO BY BRANNON KING - Ahsly Garcia is joined by head coach Dalany Roberts.
PHOTO BY BRANNON KING - Randell Johnson, RHS football player, joins the college team at Central Georgia Tech.
CONTRIBUTED - Russellville’s Logan White is joined by his parents and coaches while signing with NW-SCC to play baseball.
CONTRIBUTED - Russellville cross country runners Myriam Garcia, Eli Cooper and Miriam Sanchez are joined by coaches from RHS and NW-SCC at their signing ceremony.
Six Golden Tigers added their names to those already making plans to continue playing sports at the next level. Russellville baseball player Logan White will be joining the Northwest-Shoals Patriots. Eli Cooper, Myriam Garcia and Miriam Sanchez will also continue their education while competing at NW-SCC on the cross-country team.
Randell Johnson has committed to play football at Central Georgia Technical College as a member of the Titans and Ahsly Garcia will be taking her soccer skills to the University of Arkansas Cossatot where she will play for the Colts.
A signing celebration was held at RHS on May 25 for Ahsly Garcia. The standout soccer player for first-year Russellville head coach Dalany Roberts’ team will be heading to UA Cossatot, a community college in De Queen, Ark. While there, Garcia will be playing for Colts’ head coach, Justin Hinman.
Before Roberts became head coach of the Lady Golden Tigers, the RHS girls’ team was led by coaches Trey Stanford and Fred Ambrosio, and all three have been key pieces to the success Garcia has earned.
“This is my first year as coach, and I took over a well-seasoned program with a lot of established players, and the culture was very established. I come from the elementary world, so I kind of have a different viewpoint on things, and one thing I really appreciate about Ahsly is that she was open to me,” Roberts said.
“It’s difficult to get a new coach in general, but especially when it’s your senior year, and when you’ve had the same coach your entire career at Russellville City Schools. She was very open, has been very coachable and she’s an impeccable player.”
Garcia is looking forward to joining the team at UA Cossatot. “I’m very excited to go over there because it’s a new thing to me,” she said. While having success while playing for Russellville, Garcia has created a lot of good memories and she shared one of her favorites. “Probably it would be playing with my teammates because we basically grew up together since the eighth grade,” she said.
Earlier in the week, the RHS baseball program led by head coach Jess Smith honored senior Logan White with a signing celebration.
White will be joining the Patriots and head coach David Langston at Northwest-Shoals Community College. NW-SCC will be adding another talented pitcher when White makes his way to the campus and Patriot Park. The left-hander was outstanding on the mound with a lot of big-game experience while at RHS. He was a key contributor on two AHSAA Class 5A state championship teams and, this season, he once again had remarkable statistics.
The Northwest-Shoals cross country team will be starting competition under head coach Mark Wells and the Patriots have added three runners from RHS.
Russellville’s cross-country program was represented by Coach Plyler and Coach Greenhill at a signing ceremony held at RHS for Eli Cooper, Myriam Garcia and Miriam Sanchez. Cooper is a talented long-distance runner and recently showed his talent by participating at the state track and field meet.
The senior also set a school record in the 300-meter hurdles and should be well prepared for the cross-country courses in college. Garcia and Sanchez are gifted runners, and both are multi-sport athletes at RHS. Along with cross country, they were soccer players for the Lady Golden Tigers.
RHS football standout, Randell Johnson has recently committed to play for the Central Georgia Tech Titans in Warner Robins. Johnson was a record-setting receiver for RHS head coach John Ritter’s team. During a playoff win over Boaz, Johnson caught six touchdown passes, tying a state record. The Titans’ club football team is coached by Terry Kendrick.
