By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

PEDRO — The motto of the 3 Musketeers is “it’s all for one and one for all.”

For Brayden Adams’ athletic career, that’s the motto of the 5 sports he played.

The Rock Hill Redmen versatile senior athletic standout has played football, basketball, track, soccer and cross country. One fall he played football, cross country and soccer all at the same time.

“All sports helped with each other,” explained Adams. “Soccer helped with footwork like playing quarterback in football. Basketball helps with everything. They all just mix and help each other.”

All that working together helped Adams improve in all sports including his most successful sport of track which led him to signing a letter-of-intent Monday to run for the University of Rio Grande RedStorm.

Several schools expressed an interest in Adams that include Muskingum and Bluffton, but he elected to sign with Rio Grande.

“Rio just seemed like the best fit for me,” said Adams.

Although he won’t be doing other sports, he will apply his versatility in track.

“I think I’m going to do the 400 and the 800. We’ll see what they put me in when I get there. I’ll do whatever they tell me,” said Adams.

Rio Grande sprinters coach Jordan Cunningham said the entire staff and especially head coach Bob Willey are looking forward to having Adams on the roster along with his fellow teammate Victor Day who also signed on Monday.

“Brayden is a really good 400 guy. He’ll definitely drop down and run the 200 a little bit and definitely the relays,” said Cunningham.

“He’s just starting to come into his own. Coach (Bob Willey) is really excited for both boys to see what they can do here at the end of the season. I think both of them have bright futures for us. We’re really excited.”

Adams played quarterback and safety for the football team and he has been the basketball team’s starting point guard for the past three seasons.

In the Ohio Valley Conference track meet, Adams won the 400-meter dash with a 52.56 time and ran the anchor leg on the 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams. The 4×400 team won the event with a 3:33.69 time.

Adams thinks playing just one sport in college will help him improve immensely.

“Basketball is my favorite but track is my best,” said Adams. “Once I’m able to focus on one sport, I think I’ll be able to excel a lot. I think I’ll make a lot of progress. We’ll see, but I’m excited.”

But before heading to Rio Grande, Adams has some unfinished work ahead of him.

“I’d like to make it to the state in the 400 this year and next year (at Rio Grande) I’d like to run sub 50, like around 49 seconds,” he said.

Adams plans to major in education as an intervention specialist with plans to coach.