Butler swimming’s Vance twins can’t shake each other in the pool. That’s OK with them
JACKSON TWP — Butler’s Abigail and Addison Vance weren’t far into their swim careers. One was getting frustrated with being a blink behind the other, though, their father, Jared, can’t exactly recall who.
“When they first started – they were 8 years old — their times were really, really close,” Jared said. “One of the girls was always .1 or .2 seconds faster, and my other daughter would always say, ‘Well, my sister is just better.’”
He fetched a timing device to show them just how close they were to one another.
“You couldn’t hardly even stop the stopwatch between that amount of time,” Jared said. “It was just something that was happening at the time in their young minds. I think after they saw that, it kind of opened their eyes a little bit.”
Nowadays, neither of the Golden Tornado senior standouts, who are twins, want to label themselves better than the other. Both by voice and example, they lead Butler, which is powering through the second half of its season.
Abigail has qualified for the WPIAL championship meet in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke, while Addison will also be there swimming the 200 IM and 100 breast, along with the 100 butterfly. Both are on the Golden Tornado’s 200 medley relay that will compete at districts.
“I think we both have certain events that we like to swim,” said Abigail, 14 minutes older, when jokingly asked after Butler’s meet at Seneca Valley last week. “It kind of changes each season.”
“If I know she’s swimming her event — like her favorite event — and I’m also swimming it, I’m like, ‘I’ll see if I can beat her in her event,’” Addison said.
The twins’ times are still tight. They competed against one another in the 200 IM in a scrimmage against Knoch before this season and tagged the finish simultaneously, tying to the hundredth of a second.
“It was really funny,” Addison said. “It was cool because that was the first time we’ve ever tied together. I feel like it’s really rare to happen. ... The whole crowd was cheering.”
“You’ll never see that again,” Butler swim coach Troy Kroll said. “We tried it again. We put them in the same event again. It didn’t happen.”
Just as wowed by the phenomenon as everyone else, Jared thought back to that lesson he taught them years ago.
“That was one of those really cool things to see as a parent, how hard that is to the hundredth of a second to hit at the same exact time on that touch pad,” Jared said. “I think they’ve always had that kind of story in their mind. ... I can look at them and smile and be like, ‘Hey, you remember that?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, Dad, we know.’”
“Sometimes we don’t know who’s going to win,” Abigail said. “You’re just going for it.”
While their finishes are similar, the twins aren’t. They look alike, but are fraternal. Their father said some people have to spend some time around the two before they can distinguish them.
“At first, you wouldn’t be able to (tell them apart),” Kroll said. “But after you work with them for a while, you get to know their mannerisms and the way they talk and the way they’ll say some things. Then you pick up on ... what makes them incredibly different.”
Kroll can tell each by their strokes and turns in the pool. Their personalities, however, are the most noticeable contrast.
“It’s a good balance between us,” Addison said. “She’s half. I’m the other half.”
Jared has joked with them about getting them swim caps that liken to the 1980s hit movie “Top Gun.” Abigail resembles Pete Mitchell, otherwise known as Maverick and played by Tom Cruise. Addison mirrors Val Kilmer’s character, Tom Kazansky, who’s nicknamed Iceman.
“When Abigail swims, she’s probably a little bit more scrappy, where Addison is very systematic in how she approaches swimming,” Jared said.
Addison types up spreadsheets of their times. She’s interested in going to college for business and accounting.
“There’s times where the coach, he won’t have the yardage calculated right for their swim practices and Addison will be correcting him, ‘This is how many yards we’re doing today,’” Jared said. “She’s always paying attention to the numbers.”
“She’s definitely more planned out,” said Abigail, who won her third Butler team MVP last year.
The outgoing Abigail, on the other hand, is more spontaneous. She’s thought of being a nurse.
“Some of our teammates, they get too much in their head,” Abigail said. “That’s when I go and kind of just lighten (the mood) up and get everybody hyped up for their race. Some people just need Addison, who just is calm and sits there with them.”
“Sometimes they just need someone to sit with,” said Addison, who was the Golden Tornado’s highest scorer a season ago.
