Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's soccer team has signed Brittney Sims, of Jackson High School, to a national letter of intent to begin playing for the team in the fall. 

Sims, a 5'3" forward, will bring plenty of speed to the Rio line-up as the coaching staff has made a concerted to effort to increase the team speed in 2010.  Her speed is what the Rio Grande coaching staff really likes about her. "Going forward, we were struggling to break from defense to attack (last year) because of the lack of pace on our team," said Rio Grande assistant coach Chris Skarratt. "With Brittney, she brings that, in abundance."

"We did a timed route with her and she was getting there in seven seconds, where the girls that we have were getting eight seconds," Skarratt said. "We were very impressed with her, very impressed."

Sims said that she is fulfilling a long-standing goal to play soccer at the college level. "This has been one of my goals for two years," she said. "I am very excited to play soccer for Rio Grande."

Proximity was a key factor in Sims signing with Rio Grande. "I wanted to go to college close to where I live and liked the college," said Sims.

She plans to major in Occupational Therapy.  It was that major that also helped in making her decision. "I didn't know a lot about the college, just that I would like to go to Rio Grande for Occupational Therapy, and maybe play soccer," Sims said.

Sims will be the fourth Jackson graduate on the 2010 Rio Grande roster, joining Jessica Preston, Jennifer Hahn and Candace Chapman. Skarratt said the Jackson players are familiar with the surroundings with Jackson being only 20 miles from Rio Grande and also the fact that they have played for him and fellow assistant coach, Callum Morris in club competition. "The local girls, obviously they know the community, because they're close and they know myself and Callum from our club teams," he said. "They work out well, they are good to coach and they listen well. So hopefully, she is going to be a good player for us."

Skarratt said that Sims performed really well at a recent workout. "We brought her down during the middle of last week to look at her for an hour session," he said. "She's very skillful with the ball and can strike a ball with both feet."

"With the lack of goals that we scored last year, we definitely need someone else or we're going to be in the same situation that we were in last year," Skarratt added. 

Sims discussed her strengths as a player and also what she feels she needs to work on as she prepares make the jump to the college game. "My best asset is my speed and what I need to work on are the tricks to keep the ball," she said. 

The goal for Sims is just to help the RedStorm win as many games as they can.   "The goal for me is to win as many games as possible," she said. 

Brittney is the daughter of Keith and Paula Sims of Jackson.

Sims is a part of a large and well-rounded recruiting class that has been assembled by head coach Amber Oliver and her staff. She joins Hannah Stickelman of Ontario High School, Haley Payerchin of Cloverleaf High School, Amy Lien of South Point High School, Ashley Gilley of Northwest High School, Mary Schramm of Marietta High School, Cassie Kyle of Waverly and Alexandria Davis of Teays Valley High School as the current members of the Rio Grande recruiting class.