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ECHS’ Adkins prepares for a busy week of soccer, track
Chloe Adkins
Effingham County's Chloe Adkins pulls away from the field while winning the 1600-meter run at the Annual Statesboro Relays on April 12. Adkins, a two-sport standout in the spring, will be busy this week as both her soccer and track teams compete in postseason play. (Donald Heath for the Effingham Herald.)

By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

 

STATESBORO – Chloe Adkins’ busy spring keeps getting busier.

The Effingham County sophomore competes with the track team and the soccer team. Last week, while others frolicked during spring break, she ran at the Annual Statesboro Relays and played two matches in the Region 1-5A soccer championships.

On her calendar this week – the Rebels’ first-round state playoff soccer game against No. 8 Villa Rica (12-2) on April 22. Two days later, Adkins will be back on the track in Statesboro for the Region 1-5A championships.

ECHS made the state soccer tournament by defeating South Effingham 2-1 in the region quarterfinals. It will be the Rebels’ first appearance at state since 2022.

“I guess I’m going out with a bang,” said Adkins at the Annual Statesboro Relays about her sports-filled spring, which will be over, one way or another, in a few weeks.

“We knew we could beat South Effingham. We just had to play together and trust each other.”

It hasn’t always been so chaotic for Adkins, who played club soccer before being talked into running cross country as a freshman. In her first race, she placed second at Honey Ridge’s 5K at the Farm race.

After just a few months of cross-country competition, Adkins topped all local runners at the state meet in Carrollton.

In the spring of 2024, she doubled down on soccer and track and field.

This year, rinse and repeat.

“I think Chloe’s been better this year as a runner,” ECHS track and field coach Jordan Brown said. “Last year, she was going out so fast (at the start of races). This year, I think she has a better feel for the competition.”

In less than two years. Adkins has the school’s cross country record with a time of 18:45.24 at Toombs County and the school’s 3200-meter record with a time of 11:27.90 at the region meet last spring.

She’s only eight seconds behind the school’s 1600-meter record.

Adkins says competing in two sports means she has to work twice as hard.

But she has one golden rule she applies to both track and soccer.

“I want to be first to it,” she said, putting a soccer ball and a track's finish line in the same ultimate destination.