Sports
College recruiters have that Belton feeling
Saturday, 09 June 2012 by Chuck Kelly
It is a fact that success draws attention --- and Belton High School's academic and athletic successes have caused more and more collegiate recruiters to target the Tiger campus this year.
Dozens of respected universities, from Division I and II to Junior Colleges, have visited BHS with academic and athletic scholarship offers for graduating seniors.
The list begins with prestigious schools like The University of Texas, Stanford, Navy, Texas A&M, The Air Force Academy, Rice, Colorado State University, Kansas and Louisiana Tech. The list also includes schools such as New Mexico, University of Houston, Southern Methodist University, Tulsa, Oklahoma State, Texas State, University of North Texas, Texas Tech, University of Texas-San Antonio and University of Texas-El Paso.
Regular visitors include D-II schools such as the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Montana State, Tarleton State University, Sam Houston State and Temple College, Blinn, Cisco and Trinity Valley.
Many others have made telephone and internet inquiries.
As the school year winds down, It is still unknown how many students have accepted offers from these recruiters but a partial list who accepted includes: Football – Durham Smythe (UT), Kyle Rhoads (UMHB), Michael Gall (Cisco), Donovan Williams (Blinn), Tramaine Rose (Trinity Valley) Nathan Moody (Hastings College, Nebraska); Soccer – Luke Villamaria (USAF Academy), Hadley Young (Baylor), Logan Hellinghausen (John Brown University, Arkansas), EmilyKrenek (West Texas A&M), Bailey Gott (Texas Lutheran); Baseball – Max Hogan (Baylor), Blayten Magana (TC), Ryan King (TC); Track/Football – Levi Jordan (UTSA); Track/Cross Country – Katelin Huckabee (Tarleton State); Swimming – Clara Pappenfort (Texas A&M); Tennis – Kaila Martin (Howard Payne); Golf – Alessa Gonzales (Texas Lutheran).
Belton has always enjoyed a prominent position and recognition among high school sports but the nationwide attention of the Tiger program has grown tremendously since 2007 under the direction of BISD's Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Rodney Southern and an excellent coaching staff.
