Recent graduate Weston Vickers signed a letter of intent with Hardin-Simmons University for the next school year to play golf.

Vickers, who graduated from Albany High School in May, officially signed last Friday to become one of the 10 members of the men’s golf team at HSU.

Advancing to the state tournament in Class 2A golf in the spring, Vickers played on the varsity all four years of his high school career.

“I am really excited about getting to play at HSU,” he said. “I am ready to continue to learn more and get better at the game.”

It has been a number of years since Albany has had graduates play at the NCAA Div. I level in football, and as far as can be determined there hasn’t ever been a D1 baseball player come out of the local high school program, at least as far as local coaches can remember.

But that has changed.

Recent Albany graduates Dax Neece and Brian Hamilton will both be on the roster for D1programs in the fall.

Rockwall High School head coach Damon Wilson (c) explains a strategy to participants in this week’s volleyball team camp at the Albany High School gym. A total of 15 girls, all of whom are entering grades 9-12 this fall, are working with Wilson for two sessions daily during the four-day camp. Volleyball workouts to start the 2018 season will get underway on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Both gyms at the high school will be closed for several days starting Friday, July 13 so that the wood floors can be refinished.

The facilities will be closed to the public during the annual maintenance project, with everyone asked to please not enter either building.

Both gyms will reopen on Thursday, July 19.

“The contractor says it is very important that everyone stay off the floors to allow proper drying time,” superintendent Shane Fields said. 

Members of the Albany Athletic Booster Club met on Monday evening, July 9, to start planning for the upcoming sports seasons and to begin work on one of their biggest fundraiser of the year, the magazine-type 2018 football program that will be sold at all of the home football games.

“We are in the process of getting ads for the program,” said Booster Club advertising coordinator Shawnee Tischler. “Purchasing an ad is a way to show off and support your child, whether they are in athletics or not. It is for any child at the school.”

The Albany Lions football district schedule was reshuffled recently after Roby ISD announced in June that it doesn’t have enough players to field a varsity team in the fall.

The schedule originally set for members of District 7-2A Div. II after the biennial re-alignment in February had to be scrapped after Roby’s announcement.

Albany High School was among the top 10 Class 2A schools in the state in vying for the University Interscholastic League Lone Star Cup for the 2017-18 school year.

Albany earned 42 points to tie for ninth place with six other schools this year. 

Last year Albany earned 44 points and tied for ninth place, and in 2015-2016 tied for seventh place at 47 tallies.

All three Albany Little League All-Star teams played several rounds deep in the District 5 tournament last week, with two of the squads advancing to the final four.

The 12U team made it to the semifinal round in the winners bracket before suffering their first loss to Wylie, 5-4, last Thursday. Wylie moved on to win their division of the tournament.

“We played really well and had a one-run lead going into the bottom of the sixth,” manager Kevin Hill said. “We made some errors on base paths that gave them a couple of outs they didn’t earn.”