Wonder Twins

LANGLEY – You had to feel sorry for Kyle McGillen.

He was a wafer-thin, 5-foot-4 inch seventh-grader, seemingly sharing only a few ounces of his sisters’ athletic abilities. His older sister, Andrea, was a state-champion pole vaulter and triple-jumper during her prep career at South Whidbey High School.

His other sister, Katy – younger by only a few minutes – was five inches taller when the twins were at Langley Middle School.

“When they were in the seventh grade, Katy was high-jumping 5-4,” said their father, Matt McGillen, whose wonder twins are now seniors at South Whidbey. “Some of the kids realized Kyle was 5-4, and said Katy could practice the high jump by jumping over Kyle. He was always the kid who got the coach’s award in middle school – the guy who didn’t start but was a good teammate. Then all of the sudden he grew eight inches in like a year and a half.”

The McGillen twins will try to add to the family collection of five state titles and 22 state medals Friday and Saturday at the Class 2A/A/B state meet in Cheney. The 4A/3A meet will take place in Pasco.

Kyle scored one varsity point as a freshman, and watched his sister (Katy lettered in her first meet as a freshman) out-jump him. He nearly didn’t turn out for track as a sophomore, but decided to keep at it.

“My sister and I always felt sad for him, and then he started doing everything that we do better than us,” said Katy, who won the Class 2A high jump competition last season. “Now we don’t feel as bad for him.”

He transformed from “Katy’s twin brother” to state champion last year when he won the Class 2A triple jump competition, seemingly out of nowhere, in his first year of the event.

A look at five area athletes who will compete in this weekend’s state track meets. Whitney Hooks, Cascade Events: shot put, discus Chances: The sophomore defending shot put champ has by far the best 4A marks in the shot (47 feet, 7 inches) and discus (138-6). Amber Nash, Lakewood Events: 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles Chances: Unless a giant crevasse opens and Nash isn’t able to hurdle it, the senior should blow away the competitions in both events. Cori Moore, Everett Event: 800 meters Chances: The sophomore’s battle with Bellarmine Prep’s Brie Felnagle could be the most exciting race of the weekend. Jasmine McCormack, Arlington Event: javelin Chances: McCormack, a senior, finished third last year and enters with the state’s best 4A mark of 141-0. Vance Taylor, Everett Event: pole vault Chances: The senior’s district mark of 15-1 would have won any 4A district meet last weekend and was only two inches shy of the season’s best.

“Katy was always dominant in track,” said Kyle, who now stands 6 feet, 2 inches and averaged 16 points and six rebounds on the South Whidbey basketball team. “She was always the big star athlete. It was good to finally catch up and win. I finally got my coordination, and started to fill out a little bit. I wasn’t just skin and bones.”

The list of accomplishments goes on and on for the McGillens. Eight school records. Three state titles for Andrea, including the triple jump and the pole vault championships as a senior in 2001, and one apiece for the twins. They’ve won almost 50 league and district championships and more than 300 events combined. Matt McGillen competed at Yakima Valley Junior College. His grandfather, Everett Babbitt, won the Montana high school high jump competition in 1915. The twins’ mother, Sue Williams (who has since remarried) was also a state competitor in jumping events. Katy is one of the area’s best volleyball players, and like her sister, a cheerleader. Kyle won the slam dunk contest at a Gonzaga University basketball camp.

“They’ve scored a lot of points over the years,” South Whidbey track coach Doug Fulton said of the McGillens. “They are fun to be around. They are real hard workers and put a great deal of dedication toward their athletic endeavors.”

More medals are likely to come this weekend. Kyle ranks first of all 2A competitors in the high jump (6 feet, 6 inches) and is among the leaders in the long and triple jumps. Katy is ranked in the top three in the javelin, 100 hurdles, high jump and triple jump.

Katy will join Andrea next season at the University of Tulsa, where she plans to be a heptathlete. Kyle hasn’t decided where he’ll go to college, but hopes to participate in both track and basketball. Pacific Lutheran University is among the schools that are interested. Kyle is unlikely to go to Tulsa, meaning the twins will be separated for more than a week for the first time in their lives.

“What he wants to do is go to California and major in basketball and surfing,” his father chuckled.

Katy and Kyle have drastically different personalities. Kyle is quiet and driven. And, Katy?

“My sister is just a spaz,” said Andrea, who holds South Whidbey and Tulsa school records for the pole vault. “She can always make you laugh. She’ll start dancing or doing a cheer right in the middle of a meet.”

Katy will be coached by her sister, whose track career was ended by an accident in pole vault practice. The pole slipped during a practice drill, causing Andrea to fall 12 feet and land face-first. She felt fine at first, and then noticed she was losing some feeling in her hands and feet. The nerve damage suffered in her neck is expected to heal eventually, but not in time for her to finish her track career at Tulsa, where she serves as an assistant coach. Back in Langley for the summer, she plans to watch her siblings’ last go-around.

Her brother and sister share what they call a twinship (“like a friendship and kinship combined,” Katy says) and have been known to signal a “T” at each other when one of them does something good during a track meet.

With a realistic possibility for five state championships for the twins this weekend, the “T” sign may be a regular part of the 2A meet.

“Whether or not they do anything at state this year probably doesn’t matter that much,” said Matt McGillen, who will be attending the Class 2A meet for the seventh straight year. “It’s been a great ride.”