ROCKINGHAM – Chloe Wiggins, a junior midfielder on the Richmond Senior High School Lady Raiders soccer team, has been named the Official Richmond County Female Athlete of the Week presented by McNair Auto Sales.
In just her second season at the varsity level under 30-year head coach Bennie Howard, Wiggins has been one of several players to fill the void in the 2018 season left by former senior players. During the preseason, Howard noted that Wiggins was a player who would have to step up, and she has both as a scorer and a leader on the pitch. Leading the team in several offensive categories, Wiggins had her best statistical performance of the season in Thursday’s regular season finale against Seventy-First High School, helping her receive this week’s recognition.
Athletic Profile
Name: Chloe Wiggins
Age: 17
Year: Junior
Spring Sport: Soccer
Position: Right Outside Midfielder
Years on Varsity: 2 Years
Height & Weight: 5’-6”, 125 pounds
Experience: 14 Years
RSHS Academics: With the 2018 school year winding down, so is Wiggins’ junior year at Richmond. A part of the AP and Richmond Community College career clusters, Wiggins is a regular on the A/B Honor Roll and currently maintains a 4.3 GPA. Of her career clusters, Wiggins explained that both are beneficial to her as she prepares for her senior year and post-secondary education.
“Being in these clusters looks good on college applications,” Wiggins said. “And I’ve been able to get a lot of my (college) general education classes out of the way. These classes are helping me get ready for college, and they’ve introduced me to the college atmosphere.”
This semester, Wiggins is staying busy in school with five classes. She’s taking AP English, AP Earth and Environmental Science online, AP Psychology, and two classes at RichmondCC, Math 172 on campus and History 132 online. When asked which class she enjoys most, Wiggins noted Ms. Melissa Gardner’s AP English class.
“English has always been easiest to me,” Wiggins commented. “I’m way better at it than math. In Ms. Gardner’s class, we have a lot of class discussions. And I really liked reading The Great Gatsby in class.”
RSHS Sports: Making it clear that soccer is her true passion, Wiggins has also participated in several other RSHS sports over the past couple of years. As a junior, she played tennis in the fall for the first time, and switched between the Lady Raiders’ No. 5 and No. 6 singles player for head coach Mike Way. She also teamed up with fellow soccer player Emily Parsons as the No. 3 doubles duo.
“I really like Coach Way,” Wiggins said of her tennis experience. “Tennis is a fun sport, and I like how fast-paced it is. Unlike soccer, which is a team sport, tennis is all on you. If you mess up in tennis, there’s no one else to blame. It’s a more mental sport.”
During the winter sports season, Wiggins also ran indoor track for the first time this year. Noting that it helped improve her speed and endurance on the soccer field, Wiggins ran in the 55-meter dash, 300-meter dash, 4×200-meter relay and 4×400 meter relay.
Also as a freshman and sophomore, Wiggins played volleyball. She was on the junior varsity team her ninth-grade year, and moved up to varsity her sophomore year, playing the outside hitter position both seasons.
RSHS Extracurriculars: Wiggins is busy year-round in athletics, which doesn’t leave her a lot of time to participate in other RSHS activities. But one organization she’s involved with is the National Beta Club, which she was inducted into her freshman year. She was also a general member of the Junior National Beta Club from sixth to eighth grade at Hamlet Middle School.
“I’ve done some volunteering with Beta Club,” WIggins explained. “This past fall, Greyson (Way) and I helped out at the Seaboard Festival in Hamlet. We directed traffic and helped set up the (vendor) booths.
“And I’ve also helped out at Melvin Ingram’s Fun Day at Memorial Park (in Hamlet),” she continued. “This year I took up tickets at the front gate and then helped assist the guests with different activities.”
Hobbies: When asked what she likes to do in her down time away from soccer practice and games, Wiggins explained she doesn’t really do much of anything. But one thing that she enjoys the most is spending time hanging out with friends and family.
“I just like to hang out and spend time with friends and family,” Wiggins noted. “Especially any of my soccer teammates, like Avy (Lucero), Carley (Lambeth), Kaiyah (Sriratanakoul), Morgan (Hooks) and KP (Kathleen Pittman). I also hang out a lot with Greyson.
“In the summertime, we all get together and go swimming, go to the beach and cook out. We just like being together,” she added.
College Aspirations: With just one more year to go until she graduates Richmond in 2019, Wiggins is starting to think about what’d she like to do afterward. Right now, she’s really interested in the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and its nursing program. She’s not sure which field she’d like to pursue, but is considering her options and will make an official school visit over the summer.
“I like where UNCW is,” Wiggins said, smiling at the thought of going to school at the beach. “The rest of my family is all into nursing, like my mom, grandma, aunt and stepmom. UNCW is a great school and has a great nursing program.
“A lot of my family members have influenced me,” Wiggins continued. “When I was little, my mom had all these nursing books that I would look through. I just have always found it interesting. And my family is always talking about nursing, so it’s something I’m familiar with.”
Mentor: When asked who her mentor is, someone who has impacted her life in several areas, Wiggins chose her mother, Penny Grant.
“My mom is a nurse at First Health Richmond,” Wiggins commented. “She’s just a really loving person. She always pushes me to to my best and has helped keep me on the right track in a lot of different things.”
Athlete of the Week Stats: Entering the regular season finale against Seventy-First on Thursday, Wiggins had tallied seven goals and 12 assists through 18 games this season. When reflecting back, Wiggins noted she was “surprised” that she’s scored so many goals this year, remembering that she only had two goals as a sophomore. But her success on the stat sheet comes as a result of the team’s need for more productive players with the departure of 2017 leading scorer Cassie McFayden (30 goals) and midfielder Altman Griffin (six goals).
In the matchup against the last-place Lady Falcons, Wiggins scored a season-high four goals and tacked on another assist. Through the first 40 minutes of play, Wiggins already had a hat trick and her assist, and helped give the Lady Raiders a 5-0 halftime lead. After another goal in the second half, Wiggins brought her season total to 11 goals, tying her with fellow junior Morgan Hooks for the team lead.
You’ve scored a career-high 11 goals this season, and added a career-high 13 assists. Describe what’s been working well for you this season to accomplish these stats.
“I guess this year I have been better at taking chances when I see an opportunity,” Wiggins said. “When I see an opportunity to cross the ball, I try to create space and cut inside to cross the ball. Or if I think I can cut inside (past the defender) and take a shot on goal, I do that, too. I’ve just been doing more of that this year.
“When I’m coming down the sideline, I always look up first to see if someone is in front of the goal,” she continued. “Normally Hanna (Millen) or someone is open, so I try to cut it inside and give them a good cross or shoot the ball. I’m honestly surprised (with this year’s stats), and I’m looking forward to getting more.”
The Sandhills Athletic Conference tournament starts Tuesday. What needs to happen for you and the Lady Raiders to beat No. 6 Hoke County in the first round?
“I think we just need to communicate and play like the team we know how to,” Wiggins concluded. “If we look for passes and take shots on goal, we should be all right. I expect to win and for the team to do well (in the whole tournament).”
Coach’s Corner: Howard, who is finishing up his 24th and final year as the Lady Raiders’ head coach, praised Wiggins for her ability and willingness to step up when the team has needed her most this season.
“I’ll say this – by Chloe running indoor track, that has increased her speed, which has allowed her to pretty much dominate the right outside midfielder position,” Howard said. “She beats people, and she has a heck of a foot to be able to get crosses in, which is evident of her 13 assists this season.
“She’s done a great job this year (on the stat sheet),” Howard continued. “Sometimes she gets a little frustrated when somebody shuts her down. What she’s got to do for next year is to work on some more moves to get around defenders to do even better than she has this year. She’s been pretty dominant on that right side all year for us.”
