Twins Eileen and Evelyn Bocanegra have done pretty much
everything as a team in their 21 years together. Now they will be
continuing their college education together.
Twins Eileen and Evelyn Bocanegra have done pretty much everything as a team in their 21 years together. Now they will be continuing their college education together.
The twins recently received a full scholarship, part for academics and part for athletics, to attend St. Mary’s College in Moraga, just east of San Francisco.
The sisters will be leaving today to start working out with the cross country team. They will be joining longtime “sister” Vanessa Rebecchi.
When they were in seventh grade together, they made a pact to be “sisters for life.” But when Rebecchi, who doesn’t compete any more because of a knee injury, went to St. Mary’s college two years ago, the family was broken up.
“They looked up to me in middle school when we were running together, but then they started to catch up to me,” Rebecchi said. “I was hoping they could attend, but I didn’t know if they would be able to come up with the money. Now we are reunited.”
Each May for the anniversary of their sisterhood, the three athletes will run together and then afterwards go to McDonalds to get McChicken sandwiches. Rebecchi, who is staying in an apartment, said she plans to spend a lot of time with the twins in the dorm.
St. Mary’s is a small Division 1 coed school that originally started as an all-male school. Both girls said they were excited about attending after visiting the college.
“I e-mailed the coach first then talked with him,” Evelyn said. “He called each of us. He said he can build us up and get our speed up. That is why I wanted to go there.”
Eileen, who is older by 13 minutes, may be the smarter of the sisters with her GPA of 3.77 compared to her sister’s 3.6. But Evelyn has a slight advantage in cross country with a best of 19.44 this year – .02 faster than her sister.
Both athletes said that they preferred cross country to track. And it is a good thing because St. Mary’s doesn’t have a track team.
“You need a lot more speed in track,” Eileen said. “In track you just run around circles.”
“It is lot calmer in cross country, and there are not as many people around,” Evelyn said.
The sisters are rarely apart – whether it is attending the same classes together at Hartnell College in Salinas or attending practice together. And it is easy to mix them up.
“We have the same group of friends,” Eileen said. “Our friends usually can tell us apart, but people who barely know us have a hard time.”
They did chose different majors to pursue. Eileen wants to study Health Science, while Evelyn plans to major in Kinesiology.
On the field, the Bocanegras are constantly pushing each other to be better. Each feels the joys and heartbreaks of the other after each race.
“We each challenge each other,” Evelyn said. “She can start better and I can finish better.”
“It doesn’t feel like I am competing against her,” Eileen added. “It feels like we are pushing each other. We run right next to each other.”
Both runners competed in the California Community College State Cross Country Championships in Fresno this year. Evelyn finished 57th with a time of 20:11, while Eileen finished 80th with a time of 20:42.
In the Northern California Regional Track Championships in Modesto, in the women’s 5,000-meter, Eileen finished 10th with a time of 21:10.35, while Evelyn finished 12th with a mark of 21:17.71.
San Benito cross country coach Jess Morales had a chance to watch the Bocanegras first hand at Hartnell.
“I told them to keep it up and maybe they could get a scholarship out of it,” Morales said. “They have been around awhile, so I am glad it worked out for them.”
Morales, impressed by the dedication that the two former Balers have shown, asked them to come out to the first week of practice last week and share with the younger San Benito runners what they had learned.
“They were fun to watch run because they would help each other,” Morales said. “They were good to coach because they were listeners. And good things happen when you listen.”
“We couldn’t have done it without (Hartnell track) coach (Gary) Shaw and coach Morales,” Evelyn said. “Coach Morales was always there and was like a second coach. He was encouraging us and was really loud.”
St. Mary’s men’s and women’s head cross country coach Randy Rau said his decision to recruit the sisters was influenced by two former Hartnell runners who now compete for him – Andrew Parsel and Chip Powers.
“They told me about the twins, so we brought them up here for a visit,” Rau said. “They said they would fit into the program. I never had a chance to see them run because we pretty much ran at the same.”
The sisters still have a lot of potential, Rau said.
“I think they will improve even more than they did at the JC level,” Rau said. “I am hoping I can get them to run 30 second to a minute faster this year. I don’t think they have reached their peak.”
The Bocanegras will be joining a young team and should be able to contribute right away, Rau said.
“I graduated five seniors last year,” Rau said. “The team that is returning hasn’t run a lot at the Division 1 level. Coming in, Eileen and Evelyn will probably be my top two runners. But there isn’t any pressure on them.”
Right now, the sisters are looking forward to remaining together and doing what they enjoy.
“I am counting down the days before school starts,” Evelyn said. “I never thought I would have a chance for a scholarship. We wanted to stay together. It would be weird without her.”
