GROTON – Faith Traphagen isn’t one to let the proverbial grass grow underfoot.

“I really like being busy,” admitted the Groton senior. “I don’t like sitting at home and being bored.”

Well, then, consider this fall a mission accomplished. Traphagen smashed three sports’ worth of practices and games, two postseason appearances (so far), homework and school into the past three months. Boredom hasn’t entered the conversation much.

On a typical day, Traphagen would be up in the morning in time to drive her younger siblings and herself to school. Since she didn’t have class during that first period of the day, Traphagen would use that hour to catch up on a few things. Like cross country practice. And sleep.

“Once a week, I’d make myself run during that first hour,” Traphagen said. “Other than that, I’d take a nap in my car in the school parking lot.”

After school came volleyball practice, and 15 minutes after that, soccer practice. Add in a shower and homework in the evening and there was very little space for much akin to boredom.

In fact, the hardest part of the whole picture was that self-imposed long run that served as her weekly cross country practice.

It wasn’t necessarily a schedule that Traphagen always dreamed of keeping, but one she says was worth it.

“I’m glad I did it,” she said.

Traphagen, a starter on both the volleyball and soccer teams, has been participating in multiple sports at once for longer than just this fall.

“I went out for cross country my sophomore year,” she said. “I didn’t love it, but I was decent. I qualified for the state meet.”

Not wanting to pile on, Traphagen let cross country go during her junior season when she broke into the starting lineups of the other two programs. But after running a half marathon with her mother this past summer, Traphagen decided to give it one more shot her senior season.

“Somehow, I’ve been running faster,” she said.

Which is, obviously, a good deal for the Tigers, who reached the state championship soccer game for the second straight year two weeks ago and who will compete in the state cross country meet today in Rapid City.

Adding a trip to the state volleyball meet would complete the trifecta for Traphagen.

It would also be the culmination of a truly jam-packed fall that saw her compete upwards of five nights a week (see also: homecoming week), lose just two soccer and six volleyball matches.

Traphagen recounted one day in particular in which she competed in the Northeast Conference cross country meet (she finished ninth), then hopped on the bus with the volleyball squad to play at Milbank (the Tigers won in straight sets).

“That was a long day,” she admitted.

In the grand scheme, however, Traphagen said that was merely a one-off day.

“Honestly I didn’t think it was too bad,” Traphagen said. “Doing soccer and volleyball at the same time, there’s 14 of us that do both. So that’s not the hard part.”

Traphagen said she fully appreciates being able to do all three sports.

“It’s nice having people accept what you’re doing,” she said. “I’m not being benched in other sports because I’m doing all three.”

Traphagen’s focus this weekend is squarely on the state cross country meet and while she says she has no real expectations for the day, she’d take “a PR … and a decent place.”

Traphagen will conclude her senior season at a relatively leisurely pace, playing basketball this winter and track and field in the spring.

But first things first. Come Monday morning, with no long run to make herself lace up the shoes for, Traphagen will get a well-earned nap.