Four River Road athletes sign to play college sports on National Signing Day
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The athletic programs at River Road High School continue to grow. This year, they developed enough to produce four college athletes.
Four Wildcats signed their National Letters of Intent on Wednesday morning — three playing college football while, the fourth will compete in basketball — to cap off National Signing Day festivities.
"This is feeling amazing," said offensive lineman Drake Kilman, who will play at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma. "I'm very blessed God gave me this opportunity. I can't wait to take my talents to the next level."
Wayland Baptist University, an hour down I-27, will get a pair of local athletes from River Road as well.
Linebacker Jordan Avina and tight end Davian Perkins will head to Plainview together to continue their athletic and educational careers in the fall.
"The environment and everything there felt like a family," Perkins said. "The coaches had open arms and it all felt good to me. It felt right."
It also helped that Avina was heading with him. The two have been best friends for years.
"We've been working to achieve this goal ever since our freshman year," Avina said. "We're ready."
Avina was one of the top tacklers in the Panhandle last year with 128 tackles. Perkins was primarily a blocking tight end who also hauled in five catches for 73 yards last year.
Finally, there's Rylee Kunkel. She's a standout basketball player, but she'll be heading to the next level for volleyball. She'll continue her career at Clarendon College in Clarendon.
Kunkel was a leader for the Lady Wildcat volleyball team. At 5-foot-6, she finished last season with 329 kills, a .280 attack %, 25 blocks, 388 assists, 297 digs and 20 aces. She also signed on National Girls and Women in Sports Day, making the day even more special.
"I'm really excited," Kunkel said. "I've dreamed about this since I was a little girl. I'm so excited to be a part of the community."
Community is something that all four signees emphasized as they thanked River Road for helping develop them into the athletes and people they are today.
"The way they do things here, the way that we trained over the offseason, all of the grinding we did during the season, it's the River Road way," Kilman said.
Kunkel echoed that sentiment.
"With (River Road) being a small school I got to play every sport," she said. "That gave me a great athletic opportunity and I'm just glad that I got that."
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Four River Road athletes sign to play college sports on National Signing Day
