varsity.roanoke.com

Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Joanna Stevens (left) and Kathleen Stevens, who once bristled at being lumped together, have grown closer together as their high school careers have progressed.

Kathleen Stevens (left) and Joanna Stevens have been the kind of identical twins who don't dress alike, except during races, when rules stipulate all teammates wear identical uniforms.

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This is what running is supposed to look like.

With a fluid and seemingly effortless stride, the runner glides along, each stride putting more distance between her and those chasing from behind.

Then something happens.

As the angle to an observer changes, the runner becomes something of a blur.

But it's not a blur.

This is actually two runners, running exactly together, their strides in perfect unison.

This is normal for identical twins Joanna and Kathleen Stevens.

This autumn, the Blacksburg High School seniors have been together out front a lot during a dominant cross country season.

But, despite all the side-by-side racing and training, they're not always together.

As the line approaches, one will surge and win.

One always has to win.

Separate, but equal

Ward Stevens was on a business trip when he got the call from his wife, Paula.

"She asked, 'Are you sitting down? Because if you aren't, you might want to,'" remembered Stevens, who also recalled his physiological reaction to big news that the baby they were expecting was actually two babies. "It made my knees weak."

The girls were born healthy and robust, each weighing just a bit over 6 pounds.

And the happy parents got a healthy dose of sleep deprivation.

"The first few months were pretty rough," said a laughing Ward, assistant vice president of development for the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "It was the only time in my life that I fell asleep at my desk at work."

It didn't take long for the parents to figure out something about their girls, their only children.

"They look alike, of course," Stevens said. "But at a very young age they were different."

Paula Stevens, a physical therapist, said the girls can be so different she has sometimes wondered if they were, in fact, identical, even though genetic testing confirmed it.

"It's like a little science lab around here," she said with a laugh.

Joanna Stevens knows who she is.

"I'm easily stressed out, and I worry about things too much," she said.

Kathleen, not so much.

"Joanna worries enough for both of us," said Kathleen, who jokes that her sister is sometimes like her mom. "I just chill and she takes care of everything for me."

The differences apply to all aspects of their lives, be it sports, socializing or school work.

"Kathleen always has her cellphone on her hip and she's always texting, texting, texting," said Blacksburg coach James DeMarco, who is hoping the Stevens twins can help his team win its fourth consecutive Group AA state title on Saturday at Great Meadow in The Plains. "Joanna probably can't tell you where her phone is half the time. They balance each other out well."

But despite the different attitudes, one thing isn't so different.

"They always seem to get similar results," Ward Stevens said of his 17-year-olds.

For example, both have similar grade point averages and both got the same score the first time they took the SAT.

Both have season-best times of 17:44 for a 3.1-mile cross country race -- marks achieved on different courses.

Both have wins in big races this season, with Kathleen the most recent victor in last week's Region IV championship.

There was almost a big difference in sports, though.

Spring of their freshman year, Joanna planned to play soccer while Kathleen ran outdoor track.

"I wanted to get an edge on her [in running]," Kathleen said, laughing.

But on the day when she had to make the final decision, Joanna and friend Leah Fitchett approached DeMarco and asked if Kathleen would be better than they were during the next cross country season.

"I told them she probably would be," recalled DeMarco, who's known for being frank with his athletes.

Joanna didn't like that possibility. She decided to go out for track, as did Fitchett, who is now the cross country team's No. 3 runner.

Breakout season

DeMarco said he could tell early on that the twins had potential.

A background in soccer had provided them with a good base of stamina. And they were strong.

But unlike some distance running prodigies, they didn't become stars early on. Instead they steadily improved, with Joanna always just a little faster than her sister for their first two years of running.

Joanna said a combination of training and smart eating has helped, too.

Early in their running days, the 5-foot-7 girls weighed in the neighborhood of 130 pounds. Currently they are both around 116.

Their relationship with each other has also evolved.

Like many sets of twins, they went through a stage where they grew weary of being considered a unit rather than unique individuals. From ages 12 to 15, in particular, they spent a lot of time doing their own thing, with separate groups of friends.

"If she was around, people always wanted to group us together," Joanna said.

DeMarco remembers assigning the girls to room together on a trip during their freshman year.

"They gave me the look of death," he said, laughing.

Joanna said things have changed.

"We have grown so much closer this year," she said.

In fact, she said the girls are thinking they may try to attend the same college, something that would have been unimaginable a couple of years ago.

The girls said UVa and Georgetown are at the top of their lists of possible schools. They expect to make a final decision within a month.

DeMarco said coaching the twins has been a pleasure.

"They are model athletes," DeMarco said. "When you tell them to go for it, they dig into the well. They're not afraid to hurt."

Not only do they train hard, but they do what DeMarco calls "the little things" like getting enough sleep, eating well and staying up on classwork.

By last fall, they had become important cogs in the Bruins' state championship team.

The difference between the two couldn't have been closer than it was in the state championship race. Both ran 19:08, but Joanna edged her sister at the line for 14th place and all-state honors, while Kathleen was 16th.

Things got even better during the winter.

At the indoor state championships, Joanna won the 1,600, a race her sister wasn't in. Both were in the 1,000, a race Kathleen won and in which Joanna was second.

In the outdoor state championship Joanna won both the 3,200 and the 1,600.

After two slow laps in the latter race, Kathleen Stevens started pushing the pace and built a good lead. But her sister kicked on the final stretch.

As Joanna outleaned her twin, Kathleen screamed, "No!"

"I've thought about that a lot," admitted Kathleen, who would love to reverse that finish on Saturday.

DeMarco said he's glad to see the competition.

"I would hate to have a kid who was like, 'I'm fine if so-and-so wins every time,'" he said.

As Saturday's race approaches, DeMarco has tailored their individual training to fit their strengths.

"Kathleen does really well with rest," he said. "But Joanna can get a little flat."

When the starting gun goes off for their race Saturday morning, the girls will again be running shoulder-to-shoulder.

At least until the finish line.