Ashley Rogers signed with Columbia College on Wednesday, January 7. Front Row (left to right): Charles Huggins, maternal grandfather; Marsha Rogers, mother; Ashley Rogers; Bubba Rogers, father; Cora Rogers, paternal grandmother. Back Row (left to right): Coach Brandy Huggins, Assistant Athletic Director; Edison Arnette, Principal; Coach David Pennell, Columbia College Golf Coach; Dylan Rogers, brother. (Photo by Johnnie Daniels/THE DILLON HERALD. Click to view at full size!)
Lake View’s Ashley Rogers made school history on Wednesday, January 7, as the first Lake View High School athlete to sign a golf scholarship as she signed on to play for Columbia College next year.
Rogers has been playing golf since she was young and has played competitively for the past four years. She competed as an individual player, traveling with the Aynor Blue Jackets golf team. She finished her senior year as an All-State and North-south All-Star, finishing eighth overall in the Class A-AA state tournament. She also earned medalist honors twice during the regular season while competing at Black Bear Golf Course.
She has also been active in the South Carolina Junior Golf Association, where she was named the Pee Dee Chapter’s Girls 14–18 Player of the Year. She finished in 11th place in the Tommy Cuthbert All Stars Championship in August with a two-day total of 195.
[youtube]/-AcpfrYjHe8[/youtube]Rogers said she was influenced to play by her parents, Marsha and Charles “Bubba”Rogers, who both played after high school. She said she chose Columbia College because it was small.
“I will do better in a small school since I am from a small community,” she said.
She said she plans to bring her passion for sports and her hard work and dedication to sports and school to the next college level. She plans to major in speech and language pathology.
Her parents were very proud and excited for their daughter.
“We are very excited for her to have an opportunity to play with other teammates and with great coaching,” her mother said. “She has a lot of talent. She just needs ‘touching up.’”
Rogers and her family also thanked Athletic director Jackie Hayes and Brandy Huggins for helping her compete and for working with her schedule.
“Lake View does not have a team,” her mother noted. “Jackie Hayes and Brandy Huggins put us with this school and she played with Aynor for the past two years. We were treated well.”
In addition to golf, Rogers also plays softball and was a three-year starter for the Wild Gators and helped Lake View reach the lower state championship in 2014.
Columbia College is an NAIA school. The Fighting Koalas golf team finished ninth in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament in October.
