No one else trained for the state track meet the way Brooke Rice did this week.

The freshman from Jackson, who's already won two events at the Wyoming State High School Track and Field Championships, spent all day Tuesday far removed from the track.

Instead, she was on a Salt Lake City soccer field, playing for an elite Utah club team in the Utah state tournament.

Thursday, Rice won the 3200 at Harry Geldien Stadium; Friday, she won the 800. Today, she runs in the the finals of the 400 and the 1600.

Monday is the quarterfinals of the club soccer tournament back in Salt Lake City.

She's not alone.

Both Brooke and her older sister, Ellie, have spent the spring bouncing between the Jackson High School track program and the Utah club soccer team.

With both track and soccer practice after school, days can be long. With games in Salt Lake City, weekends can be even longer.

"Some parents push their kids," said their dad, Joe. "I have to pull mine back and tell them to rest.

"They're that kind of kids. They don't know how to rest."

Ellie Rice was an all-state soccer player as a freshman last year as part of Jackson's high school team. But when the Wyoming High School Activities Association made the decision to split soccer into two classifications - and when Jackson was placed in the lower Class 3A division - the Rice sisters decided high school soccer was not for them anymore.

Ellie said she had some conflicting feelings about leaving the Broncs' soccer team. Choosing Utah club soccer was easy; leaving her teammates was not.

"It was (a tough decision) but it wasn't," she said. "I don't know how to say this. I miss the girls, because I've been playing with them forever, but since we went down to 3A, the level of competition isn't quite as high."

There is no lack of competition at the Utah club level, where Ellie plays with the Utah Avalanche and Brooke plays with Sparta United. The Rices also play in an Olympic Development Program in Utah and are members of that program's Utah state team.

The top 18 players in the state make that team at each age level.

Well, the top 17 in Utah, then the Rices.

"When they developed the 3A-4A (classes) in soccer, they decided, completely on their own, mind you, that they wanted to continue playing at a higher level," Joe Rice said. "It's nothing against Jackson or the program. … (But in Utah) they're playing against players on the national team, a very high level."

What makes the sisters unique among the soccer community is their congruent commitment to track and field. Even though they only participated in two regular-season track meets, they're among the best middle-distance and long-distance runners in Class 3A.

Brooke won the 3200 on Thursday, only the second time she had run the event in competition, then won the 800 and her preliminary heat of the 400 on Friday. Ellie was second in the 800 and has also qualified for the finals in the 200 and 400.

"I think they just thrive on it," said their mom, Denise. "They just have ways of juggling it. I don't know how they do it, to tell you the truth."

Juggling athletic commitments is nothing new for the sisters, though. Brooke and Ellie finished 1-2 at the 3A state cross country meet last October and were part of Jackson's 3A state championship basketball team.

But when they brought up the idea of doing track and soccer at the same time, their parents hesitated.

"I discouraged them from doing it, believe it or not," Joe Rice said.

After meeting with both the Jackson track coaches and the Utah soccer coaches, though, they decided it might work.

"The Jackson coaches have been great," Denise Rice said. "They let them miss practice or even a few meets. … Even the coaches in Salt Lake, they understand they have track going on."

While Ellie Rice is set on playing college soccer, Brooke might contine with a track career.

But that's a long way away. With two more years together in high school, the state track meet likely hasn't heard the last of the soccer sisters.

As Brooke puts it, "My coach understands for soccer. I wouldn't have missed state track."

Just call it well-rounded training.

Contact high school sports coordinator Patrick Schmiedt at (307) 266-0615 or patrick.schmiedt@trib.com.