Local Stars Make College Choices

ROANOKE (WSLS-10 SPORTS)- Early signing period opened around the nation on Wednesday.

At Cave Spring four stars are moving forward, and they are dynamic stars at that. Angelo Russo is headed to West Virginia for swimming. He's a 2-time state champ and High School All-American. Paige Assaid will move to JMU for swimming.  She's won 7 state titles while at Cave Spring. From the Knights wrestling program, Noah Bushman is headed to Old Dominion.  He's a two-time state champion.  And Megan Benzie competes in gymnastics. She is a six-time state champ and will continue her career at Eastern Michigan.

Hidden Valley has a trio of standouts moving on. Kiana Cook will head to Christopher Newport to play softball. Greg Reed will keep on swimming at the University of Georgia. He qualified for the Olympic trials last year. And baseball star Cody Boone will continue his trade at nearby Radford.

At Franklin County high Sarah Perry will continue her lacrosse career.  She will play at Randolph.  Perry is the Eagles first all-state player in girls lacrosse, getting second team honors.

To the home of the Patriots, where Patrick Henry has a pair of stars headed to college athletics. Trey Lowe is headed to the University of Buffalo for swimming, and Ryan McEachern will go to King University for baseball.

At Grayson County congrats to wrestler Will Lawrence, who is headed to VMI.  The state champion Blue Devil wore the headgear of his friend who passed away while winning the 152 lb Group 2A title in Salem back in February.  It was Grayson County's first state tile in any sport in nearly 20 years.

At Northside, hats off to basketball star Alexis Hueston.  She averages close to a double-double on the hardwoods. The multi-sport star is headed to Gardner-Webb.

At Blacksburg High, Samantha Marin, the girls cross country and track star will continue running at Columbia.  Ben Fleming will do his cross country and track running at Virginia Tech. Hunter Duncan will take his skills from the varsity golf team to nearby Radford. And Sebastian Cianelli will play shortstop at King University in Bristol, Tennessee.