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Double Take: Identical twins Megan and Paige Olivetti share more than just a bond on the track, the two are currently both student teaching
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Perched on a plastic maroon chair, Megan Olivetti shouted out some encouraging words as her sister Paige rounded the corner of the indoor track. Just moments before, Paige Olivetti, was doing the same thing, cheering on her sister.
That act of comrade isn’t a big deal for these two sisters and identical twins, it’s just something they’ve always done. Now in their senior season on the Boise State track and field team, both are making their own name for themselves.
INFLUENCE
For the 22-year-old twins from Reno, Nev., the decision to continue running track after high school was never a question. But the decision of where to go was the real question.
“We had other offers and we went on a few different recruiting trips and I actually wasn’t totally settled on Boise,” Megan said. “But Paige was like, ‘that’s where I am going, no questions asked’.”
Megan said she would have been fine going somewhere by herself, as she said she is the more independent and dominant twin, but in the end, they wanted to stay together.
“I knew I wouldn’t go somewhere without her, I’m the dependent twin I guess,” Paige said. “I liked Boise State right away and she was torn, and eventually I convinced her that this was a good choice.”
THE RIGHT CHOICE
The decision to come to BSU has paid off big for the twins as they currently play huge roles on the track and field team.
This indoor track season, Megan broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.58 and earned Western Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week honors. Paige has had just as successful season. She also earned WAC Athlete of the Week honors two weeks ago and currently has the fourth fastest time in the WAC in the 200-meters and fifth fastest time in the 400-meters.
“Well they’re really hard working kids,” assistant track and field coach Chris Huffins said. “They’re easy to coach, they come to practice pretty much ready to do whatever is asked of them everyday and you know if every student-athlete that you ever coached was as focused and dedicated and talented as those two, things would be really good.”
A large part of the twins’ early success this season is due to Huffins. The first-year coach came to BSU from the University of California and has had an immediate impact on the team and Megan and Paige.
“He’s hit the right cord with us,” Megan said. “He knows how to motivate us, knows the good workouts, and we’re confident after workouts and we know we’re going to run fast races.”
“It’s a lot more intense and definitely harder than we’ve done in the past, but I’m adapting to it well I think and it’s showing results,” Paige said.
OFF THE TRACK
Besides going to school and participating in track, both of the twins are elementary education majors and are currently student teaching.
The idea of becoming a teacher runs in the Olivetti family. Their mom, Gerri, is a teacher.
“We spent a lot of time hanging out in her classroom and when we were older like helping out more like teaching lessons and stuff,” Megan said. “We had a good role model and we saw how it was done and we saw that our mom was happy with her job and so I think it was the right choice for both of us.”
Paige currently teaches reading classes at Whittier Elementary, and Megan teaches a third grade class at Adams Elementary three days a week.
“She loves to do creative lessons, she really allows them to go that extra step and think outside the box,” Christie Englesby, third grade teacher at Adams Elementary said of Megan.
“Paige sets expectations and hold kids accountable for them,” Radenne English said, reading teacher at Whittier.
Participating in track, school and doing student teaching can get a little hectic for the two.
“It’s like 5:30 a.m. wake up, go lift for an hour, quick shower, get dressed, go student teaching all day long, go straight to practice out here [in Nampa], get done around 6 – 6:30 p.m., home, dinner, homework, go to bed as early as we can, to get up at 5:30 again the next day,” Megan said.
“It’s hard, but I’m getting used to it,” Paige said. “I love it.”
THE SAME, ONLY DIFFERENT
Both Megan and Paige have almost identical schedules and can spend a lot of time together on a regular basis, with track and school, but both voiced that they like to do their own thing.
“We’re not like attached at the hip like crazy twins,” Megan said. “We’re definitely independent.”
Part of what sets the two identical twins apart from each other is their persona. Both established that Megan is more extroverted, while Paige is more of an introvert.
“Personality wise we’re pretty different,” Megan said. “I’m the outgoing, dominant, kind of the mean twin if you want to call it that. I have more of a mean streak, I’m the louder one, the outgoing one.”
“She’s the mean twin,” Paige said. “She’s the more dominant twin. I’m more easy going.”
“She’s not soft spoken, but she’s quieter than I am,” Megan said of Paige. “If one of us have to make the first move in anything, it’d be me, like making a phone call or going up to someone new.”
Huffins also noted the differences between the two.
“Megan is much more aggressive than Paige, there’s definitely a type A and a non-type A.,” Huffins said. “Paige is much more likely to do what she’s asked and not really lead too often, but come through when you need her to come through.”
Megan also noted that they have completely different tastes in boys, and all of their favorites, like food and colors are diverse as well.
However, since they are twins, some of the little mannerisms they have are the same.
“[There'll be] like random days we’ll put on the same shirt not planning it and she’ll [Paige] say you know what I was thinking of buying’ and I’ll be like blah, blah, blah and it will be exactly what she was thinking.”
“When we were little we used to stare at each other, we would sing and we’d laugh because we can tell our mouths move exactly the same,” Paige said. “And sometimes in class we’ll be sitting and we’ll realize we’re both sitting the exact same way, like resting our heads or whatever.”
ADVANTAGE OF BEING A TWIN
One of the nice things about having an identical twin is that you can benefit from it and switch places almost whenever you want.
“We switched classes a few time in high school,” Megan said. “We switched biology, this is bad, she had the class the period before, and then she’d take the test and then take it for me the next class and then I’d do her math classes for her.”
“We did it one time in middle school also because she [Megan] had a class with a boy who I had a crush on, so I went and had computers with him,” Paige said.
AFTER COLLEGE .
This May, when the twins graduate from Boise State, they will most likely go in two separate paths.
“I will probably stay [in Boise] because I’m going to keep training for a few years to see if I can make the next Olympic trials, it’s kind of a long shot dream, but I’m young I’ll do it,” Megan said.
While Paige probably won’t be continuing in hopes of an Olympic birth.
“I think I’ll be done with track, I’m still going to run, I’m looking forward to like road races,” Paige said. “[Later on} I'll be teaching somewhere, probably back in Reno, staying involved in sports, I'd like to coach someday. I think for a while we'll split up, but I think when we settle down for good we'll be in the same state at least or close to each other. We're best friends."
MARY ALBL
Sports Editor
