On track together
No matter the distance, no matter the course, the Carter sisters were born to run.
Seniors Brittany and Camille Carter have raced through their four years at Central Valley High. Whether it was running the soccer pitch or running cross country in the fall, or running track in the spring, the twins have maintained a steady pace.
While the sisters wrap up their high school careers with the current track and field season, neither plans to give up running, especially running together.
“We’re already looking at running marathons and triathlons together,” Camille said. “We’re going to Brigham Young together in the fall. Neither one of us is going to be on a team, but we’ll still run together.”
“It’s going to be kind of strange to just be students and not be part of a team,” Brittany said. “I can’t see either of us giving it up.”
The pair will be missed at CV.
“Each of them is a natural leader and they’re both extremely capable,” CV cross country and track coach Dennis McGuire said. “I think they both wanted to go their own way at first. I had Camille in cross country right from the beginning and Brittany went with soccer at first. I had them both in track, of course, and I’ve had them in class every year.
“The thing about the two of them is that, when they’re part of your team, you never have to worry about a workout getting done. You know they’ll do it and they’ll do it properly. And they’re the same way with their school work. They’re exceptional athletes and exceptional students.”
Running got into the sisters’ blood in middle school.
“The cross country program in the middle school is really good,” Brittany said. “We wanted to be part of it and we liked it.”
The twins enjoyed playing soccer, but the lure of running cross country was enough to get Camille hooked.
“Brittany stuck with soccer longer than I did,” she said. “I got hooked on cross country”
The sisters’ love of running follows different paths.
Camille stuck with cross country, helping the Lady Bears reach the state meet each of the past two seasons. Central Valley placed seventh as a team in 2006 despite a fall at the start line that took down the whole team.
“That motivated us to get back to the state meet this year,” Camille said. “And we did do better this time. We improved from seventh to fifth. I think we all wanted to do better than that, but it was an improvement.”
Brittany stuck with soccer initially, but opted to turn out for cross country for her senior year.
“I think they were finally comfortable competing with one another a little bit,” McGuire said. “Brittany was a big part of the cross country team this year and she was incredibly supportive of Camille being on the state meet team.”
“Track has always been my first love,” Brittany said. “The 1,600 meters, especially. It’s much more of a race than running cross country is and that’s what I love about it. I love the adrenalin rush you get from racing.
“I have some great friends on the cross country team, in addition to my sister. I just decided that I wanted to be with them for my senior season.”
Both sisters are excited about their final season.
“Last year I ran the 1600 in the 5:20s and I was the first one to do it for CV in quite a while,” Brittany said. “This year we have at least seven girls who are capable of doing that. We have a great deal of talent and depth on this team.”
“I’m confident that we’ll have Brittany running in that range again this year,” McGuire said. “It’s kind of separated itself out a bit over time. Now Brittany’s specialty is the 1600 and Camille’s is the 800. At first it was kind of the other way around.”
“For the most part, we haven’t been running for time yet – we’ve been concentrating on maintaining good form,” Brittany said. “Our times haven’t been here yet, but I’m sure they will be. Especially as it warms up.”
What they will miss, both say, is the camaraderie they’ve found in running.
“What I love about running is that you really get to know one another because of all the time you spend running and training,” Camille said. “You get a chance to talk and have a lot of laughs together.”