Lexie and Lizzie Planinsek are crushing the competition in their first year of cross country. The freshmen twins have taken on the challenge this season competing for the upper hand.

Lexie has been a standout recently, making great time on the course, and finishing in the top spots for most of her races. Both girls started running cross country for Latrobe when they joined the junior high team in seventh grade under Mr. Mehalic and Mrs. Reisz.

The Planinsek twins have faced challenges throughout their running careers, such as motivation, injuries, and increasing their speed. They have been able to overcome these challenges, rise up to the competition, and become great runners. Both Lexie and Lizzie said that there is indeed a sibling rivalry, they push each other to do better. However, they do not enjoy running together!

“We train differently,” Lexie said.

“ I prepare for races by hydrating, eating healthy, praying, and not thinking about the race until I’m at the starting line,” Lizzie said about her pre-race routine.

Lexie Planinsek is now being considered a “freshman phenom” in the school for her outstanding performance. She said, “ It was really exciting to make varsity this year, and I love running with my teammates, they are the greatest. Both boys and girls took first place in our first meet, which was awesome.”

For example, Lexie has been Latrobe’s top finisher in all of their races so far. Lizzie is not far behind, placing fourth or fifth for the Latrobe girls.

“They are very consistent,” Coach Simpson said. He is very happy with they way the girls perform, “Lexie completed a varsity boys workout on the track.”

Lexie is a team player, who doesn’t bask in the spotlight. She has some incredible goals as a freshman. She said, “… shave time on my personal best with every meet, to get under a 20:30 race time, and to see how far I can push myself.” Lexie’s personal best from stats is a 20:58 race time, so she is not far off!

With both Lizzie and Lexie being on varsity this year, they will make a great combo for the team to count on the years ahead. They are both very good at what they do, and plan to continue running competitively throughout high school. However, running in college is not necessarily what is on their mind at the moment. Lizzie said, “I do not plan on running in college, but I do want to run for fun after high school.”

Lexie had a different view, saying, “… the future is far away, and if I still enjoy it, I will continue running.”

Lizzie and Lexie Planinsek have a great future ahead of them at Latrobe, and not just in cross country. We should be seeing their names pop up more, and they will be familiar faces to all of us.