Collin Romero doesn’t feel like an icon or whatever you call a role model these days.

The Rock Canyon senior is a three-sport athlete, and these competitors are becoming harder to find in this age of specialization for athletes.

It has become more common for athletes to specialize and concentrate on one sport to help their chances to play at the next level and obtain possible college athletic scholarships.

The only place that three-sport athletes are common is at smaller Class A schools where athletes are needed to fill rosters for fall, winter and spring sports.

Romero was a standout wide receiver on the Jaguars’ football team, a point guard on the basketball team and will be at shortstop for the baseball team after the basketball season concludes.

“I feel real good about being a three-sport athlete,” said Romero. “A lot of people once they get into high school drop down to one sport but I really tried to play all three. I wasn’t really interested in playing college basketball but I still wanted to play that sport.

“A lot of people feel that it helps to put all their eggs into one sport.”

The transition between sports sometimes isn’t easy.

“It’s tough not having that break between seasons,” admitted Romero. “It is kind of tough on your body, especially if you get like a little dink in another sport, but you have to continue on to the next sport. So you really can’t take any days off to recover.’’

Romero believes his involvement in three sports has helped him focus his free time on meaningful things and his academic studies.

Many college recruiters and coaches welcome multi-sport athletes, and playing multiple sports helps build different muscles. Athletes competing in different sports tend to have a lower injury rate.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pound Romero was the Most Valuable Player on last fall’s Rock Canyon football team and holds eight school records including career receptions (79) and career return yards (1,172).

He had baseball offers from several schools but decided to take a scholarship offer to play football next season at Colorado School of Mines.

With the basketball season wrapping up and baseball practice starting, Romero will be walking up the incline to the Rock Canyon baseball field.

“With baseball it is a little different,” Romero said. “I have been swinging a bat but you need to throw the baseball. It will take a week and a half to go full out with the arm throwing the baseball.”

Evans scholarship winners

There were five area caddies among this year’s 13 Evans Scholar recipients from Colorado.

All five will receive full-tuition and housing scholarship to attend the University of Colorado. Evans scholarships are awarded to high-achieving caddies with significant financial need.

The area winners were Chloe Bowlen of Castle Rock, who attends Colorado Early College in Parker, Samuel Dahm of Chaparral High School, Michael Corrigan, a 2018 graduate of Legacy, Grant Gorman of Lakewood High School and Amelia Moenster of Rock Canyon High School.

Jim Benton is a sports writer for Colorado Community Media. He has been covering sports in the Denver area since 1968. He can be reached at jbenton@coloradocommunitymedia.com or at 303-566-4083.