What started out as a hobby for Chloe and Rachel Tedder has turned into a chance at the state meet as the twin sisters own the top spots on the girls high school cross country team.

“We started running in seventh grade, ‘cause you know everybody did sports in seventh grade,” Chloe Tedder said. “In middle school, we started with really bare minimum and let’s say we walked a lot in the neighborhood we were supposed to run in.”

The Tedders quickly improved, however, and soon learned they had a passion for running.

“Once you see that you’re improving, you’re like ‘Oh, I can get better’ and you just  start enjoying running more,” Rachel Tedder said.

It’s something cross country coach Greg Christensen noticed early on.

“Their strength, tenacity, and dedication to the program has been evident since Middle School,” Christensen said.

Once their passion for running was sparked, their running became a daily routine.

“We meet with our team and coach Monday through Friday, and we meet Sunday to do our Sunday run,” Chloe said. “And if we have a meet, we have our meets on Saturday, so we usually run 6-7 times a week. We run about 65 miles a week.”

Though the runs are long and often grueling, the sisters have each other to run with.

“On the easy days we usually run the same pace, it’s just however you feel,” Rachel said. “It’s a lot easier when you run with somebody, and so if you find someone that’s about your same pace on easy days, it makes it easier to run the 9 miles.”

As much as they like running mile after mile, they are always competing with each other.

“Well, Chloe’s faster than me,” Rachel said. “Obviously, I would like to be as fast as Chloe, but I’ve sort of accepted that my body was not built the same so I will not be as fast. [It’s hard to accept], but most days it’s all good.”

Friends of the Tedders have noticed their sisterly attitudes.

“On their runs they often bicker which makes them run faster,” junior Blair Lang said. “They act like sisters would; they bicker on runs but always support each other and help each other push through workouts.”

The drive to make each other better has paid off as the Tedders are tops on the team.

“We’re like number one and number two for our team right now, and I know our goals – both of our goals – well, individually is to go to state,” Rachel said. “Which to go to state you have to get top 10 for region, so that’s a goal, I mean obviously we want our whole team to go to state, but if that doesn’t work out [we definitely want to be there].”