Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

From left: Radford High School soccer players Desi Simmons, Lilli Benck and Anna Witkowsky have worked tirelessly to learn the nuances of their positions on the soccer field as well as on the track and field circuit.

From left: Radford High School soccer players Desi Simmons, Lilli Benck and Anna Witkowsky have worked tirelessly to learn the nuances of their positions on the soccer field as well as on the track and field circuit.

From left: Radford High School soccer players Desi Simmons, Lilli Benck and Anna Witkowsky have worked tirelessly to learn the nuances of their positions on the soccer field as well as on the track and field circuit.

RADFORD -- It's not unusual for athletes in high school to get involved in multiple sports at the same time. What is unusual is finding someone who not only plays two sports simultaneously but also excels in both. At Radford High School, three athletes fit the bill.

Meet Desi Simmons, Lilli Benck and Anna Witkowsky, Radford's trio of dual-threat athletes in soccer and track and field. Simmons and Benck are seniors, while Witkowsky is a junior. These girls manage to juggle school and sport with surprising success while maintaining strong friendships with one another off the field.

"Lilli is my best friend," Simmons said. "We've got a really tight bond. She's the best teammate on the field and my best friend off it."

Simmons plays goalkeeper for the defending state champion Bobcats but also throws shot and discus for the track team. Far from an imposing figure in the net at 5 feet 7 inches, Simmons makes up for her unassuming stature with a level of athleticism that both her coaches rave over.

"She has the ability to throw the ball as far as many goalies can punt it," said Lee Boehling, Radford's girls' soccer coach. "She can get it 35 to 40 yards down the field on a rope."

That strength allows her to quickly distribute the ball to a wide area of the field quickly and accurately. Naturally, that power translates well to throwing.

"She's just a super strong girl," said Chris Vicars, her track coach. "As good as she is at soccer, she could be even better in the throws."

Simmons comes from a rich tradition of good throwers. According to Vicars, her uncle held school records in the shot put and her father, Derrick Turner, still holds multiple throwing records.

"I took up track because I wanted to break all of my dad's records," said Simmons, who's already captured the girls' mark for indoor shot. Under the tutelage of Nick Pappas, throwing coach to multiple state champions, she just may achieve that feat.

Benck, on the other hand, was not blessed with the same natural gifts as Simmons.

"When I first saw her at 12 or 13 she was so tall and gangly she would trip over her own feet," Boehling said of the 5-foot-10 center defender. "She's worked tremendously hard to become a great athlete."

A soccer player since she was 9, Benck has developed her relationship with Simmons over years of playing on the club circuit. Their chemistry on the pitch makes them a formidable tandem.

"I'm Desi's voice," Benck said. "She tells me what she needs on defense and I relay it to the rest of the team."

While Benck acts as the mouthpiece, Simmons' more laid-back attitude has a calming effect on the rest of the team. The balance of styles keeps the student leadership from taking on a "too many cooks" feel.

On the track, Vicars has Benck running the 800 meters and the 1600 meters. The distance events can be grueling, but the conditioning needed to play soccer keeps him from having to push her too hard at track practice. Often she will perform shortened drills and exercises in order to save some energy for soccer, which takes place directly afterward. That doesn't leave much time for outside pursuits.

"It's horribly time-consuming," Benck joked. "I have no social life at all!"

Still, she said that if track were not so rewarding, she never would have come back to it after testing the waters last year. Simmons added that even with all the commitments they enjoy the things typical of teenage girls.

"I love going to the movies," Simmons said. "And I love yard work. One of my favorite things to do is work in the yard with my grandmother in the spring. I'm very much a family person."

For all their athletic ability and chemistry, it is the girls' intelligence that pushes them past the level of just good athletes. They play smart together and have worked tirelessly to learn the nuances of their positions on the track and on the field.

"I tend to pick up on things quickly," Simmons said. "There are so many little things you need to do to be a good goalie or a good thrower. Learning those really intrigues me."

For both girls the days of juggling two sports are almost over, but their efforts have paid off. Benck plans to attend Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond in the fall while Simmons will head west to play soccer for Maryville College in Tennessee.

The Bobcats, however, will not be left high and dry when these two-sport stars graduate. Poised to fill their very big shoes is junior Anna Witkowsky. She plays outside left defender in soccer and runs middle distance and relay in track.

"If you put Lilli next to Anna you'd think that Lilli is stronger because of how she's built," Boehling said. "But Anna's got that wiry kind of muscle. She plays very physical."

Her willingness to initiate contact on defense forces a lot of bad shots and her ability to make up ground keeps her from getting burned by her aggressive style.

"No attacking defender has been able to consistently get the better of her," Boehling said. "Her tremendous recovery speed forces bad shots. She just gets it done."

According to both coaches, it is no secret that Witkowsky can be a bit of a drama queen. But that hasn't hurt her on the field or the track yet. If she can maintain her focus, perhaps she will reap the same post high school opportunities of her other two-sport teammates.