Jorge and Ed Torres work together and not against one another (Luke Finley) |
“Ed has always been there for me,” Jorge said. “I have to see him a lot. But it really is not that bad because it's like looking into a mirror and saying to yourself ‘Damn, I look good.’”
Jorge won the 2002 championships while his brother finished tenth. But they weren’t the only outstanding twins this year. Sisters Kate and Laura O’Neill of Yale finished second and thirteenth respectively in the women’s race.
And the spotlight for the track season isn’t just on those twins either. John and Sean Jefferson, the freshman from Indiana, will likely pick up speed on the track this year. Even the O’Neil sisters are joined by another set from Yale – the Sawicki sisters.
But this double vision is not unusual for the track and field scene. At the 2000 NCAA championships Brad and Brent Hauser lit up the 10k and the 5k placing first and fourth respectively in both races. And in the Sydney Olympics, Alvin and Calvin Harrison both ran for gold medals in the 4x400-meter relay.
The sisters’ act
So is it just chance that so many twins excel in this sport, or is there a reason? Kate O’Neill says that she would not be where she is without her sister.
“Distance running can be lonely. It's great to have someone to run with during long runs and push you in intervals,” Kate said. “Both of us want to win every we race that we enter, but we also want to push each other to improve… I think this attitude has helped us a lot.”
According to Laura, they’ve worked together to reach goals on the track.
“Last year at Penn Relays, I wanted to run a qualifying time in the 10k for nationals, “ Laura said. “Kate was running in the distance medley relay earlier in the day, but she asked our coaches if she could run the first four miles of the 10k to help pace me.”
Kate said they even planned the dynamics of the race.
“We decided what splits we wanted to run and then we traded off every quarter of a mile,” Kate said.
For other runners it might have been confusing, but Yale head track coach Mark Young wasn’t fooled.
“I’m used to it,” Young said. “I know that they hold
their arms differently when they run, so I always know who’s who that
way.”
Last year, Kate took fifth in the NCAA 5k championships, while Laura was second
in the 10k. This season, the sisters will look to better those performances.
Kate
and Laura O'Neill interview
The Buffalo brothers
In Colorado, the Torres brothers operate in much the same way.
“We work together and not against one another,” Jorge said. “This
past fall when Dathan [Ritzenhein] went down with an injury… Ed stepped
it up in his training and he was able to join me on my long runs. Anytime I
see my brother running well it motivates me to work that much harder.”
And hard work is what they have done. According to Jorge, the two have set their
goals high.
“I have a vision of running under 13:15 in the 5k. Which I hope will get
me to the World
Championships in Paris this summer,” Jorge said. “I think that [Ed]
has a good shot at finishing in the top 3 in the 10k. I would like to see him
win an NCAA title as well.”
But that doesn’t mean they won’t cross paths.
“I'm sure [Ed] will run some 5k's too.” Jorge said. “We get
along really well as teammates and most importantly as brothers.”
Jorge and Ed
Torres interview