CHAMPAIGN — Reese Hogan tried it last spring. Being a dual-sport athlete at St. Thomas More.

It didn’t quite work out. Not because of anything Hogan did or didn’t do, but because the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic wiped out her attempt at competing in track and field and girls’ soccer simultaneously.

So what did the North Carolina transplant do at the beginning of her senior year with the Sabers?

Put forth another effort to her goal of playing two sports at once.

This one has been far more successful, and it’s reaching an interesting plateau on Saturday.

Part I is Hogan running a cross-country race — the St. Teresa Invitational — for STM at Forsyth’s Hickory Point Golf Course, scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. start time.

Part II is Hogan returning to that course for golf action at the LeRoy Invitational around 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

“This is definitely going to be one of the highlights of my season,” Hogan said. “I’m really excited for cross-country because I heard it’s an awesome course. As I’m running on it, I’ll scout it out as I get to golf later.”

Ever since Hogan began high school, she’s been destined for a double-duty moment such as this.

She’s spent most of her life in North Carolina, as her dad, Ken, often was stationed there in the Marine Corps. The exception up until recently was when Hogan was in fourth grade and her dad was deployed to Afghanistan. Hogan, her mother and her younger brother briefly moved to Illinois to be closer to family at that time.

Back on the East coast as a high school freshman, Hogan ran cross-country and played volleyball in the same season. It quickly showed her commitment to both ventures.

“I would have volleyball games, and then afterward I would go out on the track at the high school,” Hogan said, “My parents would be holding up headlamps, and I’d be running my workouts around the track at like 9, 10 o’clock (at night).”

Before Hogan’s junior year of high school, the family returned to Illinois to help her great-grandma and grandparents.

After the track-soccer combination didn’t pan out for Hogan during the 2019-2020 academic year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hogan sought out a new pairing for this fall — even with the pandemic wreaking havoc on the IHSA schedule.

Hogan said her great-grandmother and grandfather both have past ties to golf, which brought that sport to her attention alongside distance running.

“They definitely had an impact on my pursuing golf,” Hogan said, “and with corona going around, I didn’t really know if I was going to have a cross-country season. So talking with my parents and my grandparents and everyone, they … encouraged me to go out for golf. And I’m really excited I did.”

Hogan rapidly resumed her all-hours approach to dual-sport training.

“I love the challenge,” Hogan said. “When I have golf meets in the afternoon where I can’t make my cross-country practice, I live out in the country, so I’ll get up and I’ll run around our lane, 4 miles. I’ll wake up at 4:45 to do that, or if I don’t get to wake up at that time I’ll run afterward in the dark, with my headlamp again.”

Asked if she ever finds time to sleep, Hogan admits she thrives after spending fewer hours counting sheep.

“I seem to feel like if I wake up earlier and I go to sleep later then I feel more awake,” Hogan said, “rather than if I slept in more and would just sleep.”

Hogan’s golf career got off to a strong start during the Sabers’ Aug. 17 season opener at Farmer City’s Woodlawn Country Club. Her 18-hole card of 104 served as STM’s fourth and final scoring mark as the team snagged first place.

“I’ve never played competitive golf (before that day),” Hogan said. “Coach (Alan) Dodds and Coach (Kim) Zahrn, I love them. They’ve helped me along the way, and so have my teammates.”

As for cross-country, Hogan said she was happiest with the results from the Paxton-Buckley-Loda Invitational last Saturday, in which the Sabers placed third as a unit and Hogan took 10th individually with a 3-mile time of 20 minutes, 9.91 seconds.

“We were really pumped about that,” Hogan said.

Hogan is one of the rare individuals who chose to pick up an extra fall sport in addition to continuing on in another IHSA fall event that wasn’t postponed in response to the pandemic.

She said it’s led to a bit of adversity in life scheduling and striking a balance between her sports and other responsibilities. But adversity also is something to which Hogan is accustomed.

She was living in North Carolina when Hurricane Florence struck the state in September 2018. Among other major adjustments, Hogan had to live with her family out of a single room for six months while repairs were made to their home.

Moments like that make handling a cross-country meet and golf tournament on the same day seem like a walk — or run — in the park.

“We were out of school for an entire month (because of the hurricane), and I had to train for cross-country on my own without my teammates,” Hogan said. “I’m just very used to adverse situations, and this definitely will be one this weekend.”