North's Elliott signs to be two-sport athlete at W.Va. Wesleyan
May 6—RACHEL — North Marion's Addie Elliott has succeeded in multiple sports during her time as a Husky, and as she prepares to make the move to college, she saw no reason to narrow things down.
Elliott signed with West Virginia Wesleyan College on Friday, committing to joining both the Bobcats' basketball team and track and field program as a two-sport athlete at the next level.
"From the first time I went there, I just felt like home there," Elliott said. "All the coaches, all the teammates, everybody there was just so supportive. It felt like home, like it was the best place for me."
Elliott originally committed to the university's track and field team, having been a part of two state runners-up teams each of the last two years at North Marion, including a second-place 4.102.5 meter shuttle hurdle team last season.
The signing was the third commitment from this iteration of Huskies on the track team, a unique circumstance and a sign of Elliott and her teammates' success through the years.
Elliott joins Trinity Hine (Lincoln Memorial) and Rylee Delovich (West Liberty) as college signees.
"This is something that just doesn't happen very often," North Marion girls track and field coach Jeff Crane said. "We're proud of all three of them. Addie's going to be a great addition to the Wesleyan family. She's a hard worker, she's overcome injuries, they all overcame COVID.
"It just makes you happy, because she's a good person, student body president, she's got a lot of things going for her. I think it's going to work out great."
Circumstances changed, at least in Elliott's mind, after she and the Huskies captured this year's Class-AAA state basketball championship against the Philip Barbour Colts.
The jubilation of winning the title was an experience that Elliott couldn't give up going forward.
"All the energy and all the happiness that came from winning the state title, seeing that from all my teammates, I just felt like I wanted to keep doing that more," Elliott said.
"Coach [Brett] Vincent called me after the state tournament and we just talked. He said "I think we could use you on the team." So I went down and saw him and decided to do both of them."
Elliott was named an all-state honorable mention this past year, averaging 8.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game. She becomes the second of two North Marion seniors committed to play in college, with Olivia Toland (Frostburg State) also signed up.
"One-hundred percent of our senior class is moving on," North Marion girls basketball head coach Mike Parrish said.
"She's one of those good kids who works hard, a good leader for us this year and she'll bring those leadership skills. When she went to sign track, I said 'Well, you ought to try basketball for them too.' Then a few weeks ago, I hear she's going for basketball too. It's great for her to go be a two-sport athlete in college, that doesn't happen a lot, but I think she's a kid who's up for the task."
Splitting your talents between two sports at a high level would be a challenge for any athlete, but Elliott says she has the support system in place to do it, starting with her two new coaches, Brett Vincent and Kelsey Chambers, who Elliott said are both open to the arrangement.
"They both seem very nice, and they seem like good people, and I feel like I can become a better athlete and a better person playing for both of them," Elliott said.
"It just happened the way it did. I'm excited for it, something new, and I'm just ready to go for it."
Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.
