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3 PHS Seniors Ink with Colleges
By Zack Mauldin
Sports Editor
Updated: June 4, 2008, 9 a.m.

High School seniors signed to continue their athletic careers on the next level last week.
Aaron Smith signed with Newberry wrestling, while track athletes Chris Morgan and Tony Butler signed with The Citadel and Anderson University, respectively.

Smith said that signing a college scholarship has always been his goal athletically, the opportunity just didn’t come about the way he thought it would originally.

“At first I wanted to play football somewhere, but I got into wrestling and realized it was lot more fun,” he said.

Pickens coach Mark Barrett said that it is difficult to replace a wrestler of Smith’s quality.

“He’s a very dedicated wrestler,” Barrett said. “I think he’ll do really well on the college level.”

Smith heads into a Newberry program that had eight national qualifiers this season, including four All-Americans. Kelly Anundson, a two-time All-American and former national champion, will be lost to graduation in the 197 weight class, which is where Smith competes.

“I’m going to go down there and give it all I’ve got,” Smith said of replacing Anundson. “It’s a whole different level.

Morgan and Butler helped lead the Blue Flame track program to a sixth-place finish at the state championship track meet this season, as well as the first cross country Western AAA title since 1992.

“Their leadership was invaluable to our team this year,” said Pickens track and cross country coach Bryan Clevenger. “You won’t find two that are more determined to make sure the team gets where it needs to go, or gets as far as they can push it, anyway.”

Although both will be college athletes, they each chose their school based on academic goals.

“I want to be an astronaut,” Morgan said. He said that he plans on heading into the Air Force as a pilot following school, and moving on to ...See Full Story on Sports, Page 1C