Boone Grove's Jordan Chester may be one of the busiest athletes in the area.

And also one of the best.

This spring, the sophomore will be trying to make what would already be her fourth trip to state in an individual event. She has twice gone to state in cross country, and qualified last spring in the mile run in track.

Chester also plays soccer in the fall, simultaneously with cross country, and was a key member of Boone's basketball backcourt all winter.

"She's pretty much a perfectionist at everything she does," said Wolves coach Candy Wilson, who doubles as the school's girls basketball coach. "She's not somebody you have to worry about pushing. She's got a lot of heart, she's very dedicated and she's very disciplined."

Chester finished 14th at state last year, clocking a 5:18 time in the 1,600 meters. She also won the 3,200 at the sectional, though it's up in the air this year how much she'll compete in that event once the postseason rolls around.

Chester's state finish last spring was a stellar showing for a ninth-grader, but it also left her plenty of room for improvement this year.

The top nine finishers in individual events at the state finals medal, and that's her aim this time around.

Chester, who also carries a 4.3 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, fell into distance running by chance late in elementary school, at first recoiling when the idea of running a mile was brought up to her. At that young age, it seemed like a ridiculously long distance.

"I thought I might not be able to make it, that I'd have to stop and walk or something," Chester said.

Instead, she clocked an impressive time that afternoon and hasn't really stopped since.

By playing basketball in the winter, Chester doesn't get to accumulate the same kind of winter mileage that a lot of her distance competitors do. But what amounts to a winter full of speed work, owing to basketball's fast stops and starts, pays its own sort of dividends.

"I wouldn't say I'm at a disadvantage," Chester said. "I'm still running. It's just harder to start off again because your body isn't used to that kind of running. Around the first week your body is taking a toll from the running you're not used to, but otherwise it's pretty much the same."