Former Logan County High School basketball player Adam Haley says he will transfer to Thomas More College next year to play basketball for the
Saints. He was invited to try out by new Saints coach Jeff Rogers, who coached Haley as a junior at LCHS.
Haley is completing his freshman year at Western Kentucky University where he was a basketball manager in the fall semester.
As soon as Rogers got the head coaching job after conference Coach of the Year John Ellenwood resigned to become head coach at Ashland University
in Ohio, he contacted Haley, inviting him to come to the Northern Kentucky college for a tryout. Adam went up on a Wednesday and said soon afterwards
that he plans to transfer to the college.
An NCAA Division III college, Thomas More can't award athletic scholarships, a rule in Division III.
If he makes the team, Haley will become only the fourth player in the 27-year history of Cougar boys basketball to play for an NCAA team. The
other three were Fred Tisdale at WKU, Adonis Hart at Tennessee Tech, and Trey Turner at Hanover.
Haley's older sister Kara is also an NCAA athlete. She played basketball for Kentucky Wesleyan College as a freshman, but has had to sit out the
last two seasons with serious injuries. Wesleyan is an NCAA Division II college.
There have been other former Lady Cougars playing NCAA basketball. They have included Lora Spencer at Kentucky, Cindy Huffines at Louisville,
Kaneshi Hart at Memphis, Tracey Mason at Austin Peay, Sarah Higgins at Murray State and Finley Baird Woodard at Western Kentucky.
Sansom WKU's top female scholar athlete
Women’s golfer Victoria Sansom of Russellville has been named Western Kentucky University’s female scholar-athlete of the year. As a junior in
2008, Sansom appeared in 9 of 10 Lady Topper tournaments and posted a season-best 74 in the Sun Belt Conference Championships. Although unable to
compete with the team this year due to injury, she remained active with the program.
Victoria began WKU on a golf scholarship, but decided to devote herself to academics her first two years. She had a productive and enjoyable
season as a junior, including hitting the first hole-in-one in tournament action in Lady Topper history
The top male scholar athlete this year is also a WKU golfer. He is Matt Sherertz.
Emberger's grandson top amateur at Boston
John Thompson, the grandson of Sarah Emberger of Russellville, was the top amateur runner in the Boston Marathon recently. He finished 26th
overall at Boston among over 26,000 runners. He placed 11th among American entrants, but the other 10 were professionals, as well as the other 15
people who placed ahead of him.
The former Owensboro Catholic and UK star runner is the son of former RHS tennis player Mary Ann Emberger Thompson and her husband Shelby.
A two-time all-state distance runner at Catholic, Thompson had an outstanding track career at the University of Kentucky. There he got experience
running in big cities by winning the 3.1-mile collegiate division title in the New Balance Games at The Armory in New York City.
A first-year student in the School of Pharmacy at UK, Thompson placed 49th among 45,000 runners in the Chicago Marathon last fall. He ran the 26.2
miles there in 2:32.48. His time in Boston was 2:24.33. His goal is to run a 2:19 marathon, which would earn him an automatic invitation to the Olympic
Trials.
All four of the boys in the Thompson family have been outstanding distance runners and their sister was a champion sprinter.
Their grandfather, the late Joe Emberger, would have been very proud of them.
Waldo named East soccer coach
Darren Waldo, a former Russellville resident, has been named head soccer coach at Warren East High School. Waldo lived here while teaching and
coaching in Hopkinsville and completing his masters degree at WKU. He was a teammate of Logan Countians Daniel McCarley and Sam Hartford on the Ohio
Valley College soccer team. He also covered football and soccer for the News-Democrat & Leader while I was editor,
Darren returned to OVC as women's soccer coach and sports information director, but he and his wife Sara have been back in Kentucky the past
couple of years. He has coached wrestling and lacrosse. Waldo is the son-in-law of Lewisburg native Lee Ann Moore Owens and her husband Charlie.
Meacham joining R'ville staff
Greg Meacham has been named to the football coaching staff in the Russellville School system, the Logan Journal has learned. A three-sports
athlete at RHS in the 1970s, Meacham has been involved in supporting Logan County High School athletics throughout the four-sports career of his son
Blake, who graduated in 2007. Last year he was on the bench during Cougar basketball games and worked with the system's AAU teams this spring.
Meacham will work with the middle school football team during the week and then help with varsity games on Fridays.