By T. Scott Boatright
While the Bearcats football team is the most recent championship team at Ruston High School, there are plenty of outstanding student-athletes competing in other sports at RHS.
And four of those student athletes took their next step in the walk of life Wednesday as they signed National Letters of Intent scholarship paperwork to continue their sports careers on the next level.
Those four “non-football” student athletes celebrated during a Signing Day ceremony inside the RHS Auditorium on Wednesday were baseball pitcher Peyton Beck, cross country/distance runner Zoie Holstead, volleyballer Jade Smith,and softball utility player Cala Wilson.
“To me it’s a reflection of our commitment to pursue excellence in everything we do at Ruston High,” said RHS football defensive coordinator Kyle Williams as he introduced the students signing scholarships in place of Athletics Director Jerrod Baugh, who unexpectedly had to miss the event to attend to a personal matter. “The commitment of these young people, across all of the different sporting avenues that we offer here, makes it a very big day for our school.”
Beck, a right-handed pitcher with a 4.2 grade point average and intentions of becoming a lawyer, is taking his talents to baseball powerhouse LSU-Eunice.
“If you don’t know anything about LSU-Eunice, it’s one of the top junior colleges in the nation,” said RHS baseball coach Zack Smith. “Actually, it’s No. 1 in the nation right now, so that’s a big achievement for Peyton to become part of that program.
“As a student, Peyton has a 24 “Super Score” on the ACT, his cumulative GPA is a 4.2, he’s on track to graduate with honors and has taken a variety of honors/dual enrollment and advanced placement courses. Basically that means he’ll probably be a sophomore before he even starts college.”
Beck said a big part of his decision was a feeling of familiarity he has with the LSU-Eunice baseball, where former Bearcat Dawson Willis is currently a sophomore infielder.
“They do things a lot like we do here with the Ruston baseball team,” Beck said. “It’s a good program — a dominant program, and that’s exciting. They have coaches that really care about their players.”
LSU-Eunice’s history of sending players to higher division baseball teams after completing their sophomore seasons is another reason Beck said played a role in his decision.
“That’s part of the thought process and long-term hopes,” Beck said, “But obviously while I’m there I’m going to do my best to help the team. It’s a great opportunity I’m proud to receive. I believe I can become a better baseball player there.”
Holstead said her decision to take her long-distance running talents to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette wasn;t a hard one to make.
””I’ve always been interested in ULL and I have family down there, so when my future coach reached out it was just an automatic yes,” said Holstead who right now intends to try and head toward a nursing career. “I know that was the place for me.I love the coaches and the environment around the teams and a lot of my future teammates have already reached out to me and I’m so excited about that.
At RHS, Holstead has been part of state championship teams under head cross country and assistant track and field coach Dustin Cochran.
“I think the best way to sum up Zoie’s career here is we’re going to remember a lot of the success that we had,” Cochran said. “In all total, Zoie has run 78 races here at Ruston High. either as an individual or on our 4X800-m relay team. Over that time, we’ve amassed a lot of team success on the regional and state level.
“Competing so much, Zoie has won six times. Zoie is a seven-time all-district runner, six time all-region runner and four-time all-state runner. We’ve won six district championships since she’s been here, five regional championships and five times she has been part of teams that have been either state champions or state runners-up in either cross-country or track. Not a lot of student-athletes get to leave Ruston High with those kinds of numbers”
Smith, a District 2-1A Offensive Player of the Year as a junior and all-district middle hitter as a senior, is moving on to compete next season for the Houston Christian Huskies volleyball team.
“It just felt like home and the coaches and team made me feel like family,” Smith said of her decision to sign with HCU. “And they’re a winning team, so that helped in my decision.
“Living in Houston will be a new experience for me and I’m looking forward to it.”
Smith said she intends to head in a medical direction after her college career ends.
“I plan to major in biology, and then after graduating I plan on going to another college to pursue sonography and become an ultrasound technician,” Smith said.
RHS assistant volleyball coach and head softball coach Lauren Garvie said there’s simply one way to describe Smith on a volleyball court.
“If you’ve ever seen Jade on a volleyball court, you know she’s an explosive player,” Garvie said. “I;m excited to see her leave on this next journey, but also sad to see her go.”
Wilson earned All-District 2-5A accolades last season as a junior, pitching 94 and a third innings for the Lady Bearcats while totaling 26 hits at 62 at bats, five of which were home runs, is taking her batting, pitching and infielding skills to Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.
“Cala is one of our top competitors,” Garvie said. “She’s one of our top hitters and her bat is hotter than you can imagine. The ball flies off her bat and sometimes makes me shake in the dugout. She works hard and this is a huge opportunity for her.”
Wilson said the resources at Lamar played a big role in her decision and that coaches intend to use her in the at third primarily but that they told her that her pitching skills could also come into play as a Cardinal.
“They’re very put together and involved in their softball,” said Wilson, who intends to study general business in college. “It’s a beautiful campus overall and I’m thrilled to get a chance to go and play softball there.”
