Former Longview Resident S.I. Swimsuit Winner

LONGVIEW � A former Longview resident has been named the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie for 2015. She is Ashley Smith, 24, now a resident of New York.. According to a bio on the magazine�s web site, �I went to high school in Austin, but before that I lived in a real small, middle-of-nowhere town called Longview � ranches, cowboys, big trucks, nothing but BBQ places. I always felt different from a young age and liked people that other people didn’t, until I got to eighth grade and started hanging out with the punks and the goths. If you got bored, you’d just put another safety pin through your ear. What else are you supposed to do in a small town where there’s nothing to do? Sports Illustrated says Smith was discovered at a concert during the South by Southwest music festival in Austin. Smith is said to be a designer for a line of clothes for California-based streetwear company RVCA.