FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)--Lexi and Tori Weeks are two of the top collegiate pole vaulters. And it hasn't even been that long since the twins took up the event. At Cabot High School, the sisters competed in hurdles and jumps along with pole vault.
"We started in the seventh grade. Our track coach just told us to go try it at the high school, and we went out and it was kind of fun and we stuck with it," Tori said.
"For the twins in high school they didn't vault that much. They did so many other events at Cabot and then they'd go to vault club with Morry Sanders and just work on it maybe twice a month," Coach Bryan Compton said.
Lexi said there was one reason why they settled on pole vault. "Pole vaulting for one is just fun. Clearing a bar and that excitement is so fun, but it was kind of just the event that we excelled at the most."
Last season as a freshman, Lexi won both the indoor and outdoor SEC and NCAA championships, eventually qualifying for the Rio Olympics. This winter, Tori has been pushing her sister and currently holds the NCAA lead at 14-10 1/4. "Looking at a bar that you know is a PR bar, and I think in your head you just say give it your all. You don't try to think too much, you just do what you know how to do," Tori explained.
While the twins are together almost all the time, there is one main way to tell them apart. "They have different personalities. One's a little bit spicier than the other one, you know. We call them cinnamon and spice, one of them is real nice and one of them has a little fire to her," said Compton.
"I'd say personality wise though, I'm a little more outgoing and Tori's a little more reserved," Lexi added.
At this weekend's Tyson Invitational, the twins pushed each other to the top, tying for the win at 14-7 1/4. Their goals are to jump 15 feet--Lexi again and Tori for the first time--and place first and second at the national championship.