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NEWS, NOTES &
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The Bradsher Beat
Friday, February 3, 2012
By Bethany Bradsher |
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ECU women's track foes seeing
double
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Britney Kott |
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Brooke Kott |
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(ECU SID images) |
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By
Bethany Bradsher
©2012 Bonesville.net
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Like Noah when he was stocking the ark,
several East Carolina coaching staffs have learned that good things come in
matched pairs.
Suiting up for Lady Pirate basketball this
season are Britny and Whitny Edwards, the twin daughters of legendary ECU
hoops star Blue Edwards. Head volleyball coach Pati Rolf recently announced
that another set of twin sisters, Sierra-Lee and Kierra-Lee Dunson, would
play volleyball in Minges Coliseum this fall.
And then there are Brooke and Britney Kott,
junior middle distance runners who make up half of the distance medley relay
team. That relay team made an unforgettable splash at one of college track’s
greatest venues last weekend, finishing in 11:24.51 and shattering the
8-year-old school record by 24 seconds.
Assistant track coach Tsehaye Dagnachew, who
works with the Kotts, said that before the race she and the runners sensed
that something special was about to happen. Dagnachew remembers telling the
women that they might even break the record by 10 seconds, but she little
imagined they would more than double that projection.
For Britney, it was a matter of four iron
wills coming together with weeks of quality workouts behind them. She wasn’t
surprised when she saw their time, she said, because the team had begun to
sense they were capable of greatness.
“We knew we had to step up our game, because
there were some big teams there,” she said. “Everyone has been training so
well that it was the perfect week to do well. Everything just came
together.”
The Kotts, natives of New Jersey, weren’t
necessarily planning to attend the same college. But when they visited ECU,
they both loved the coaches and the team members, not to mention the warmer
climate. They both felt like it was the right place for them. They tried
living apart as freshmen, but soon gave up on that idea and became roommates
again.
Nearly three years later, after sweating and
aching together through grueling practices and spending countless late
nights studying side by side, they can’t imagine it any other way. In fact,
each twin is fairly sure she runs faster times with her sister by her side.
“My whole life, neither of us wanted to be
considered the slow twin, or the dumb twin, so athletically and academically
we’ve always pushed each other,” Brooke said.
“I’ll run a time and she’ll say, ‘I have to
beat that,” Britney said.
The twins are easy to coach, Dagnachew said,
because they truly are so much alike that the coaching tactics that work for
one work for both. And then there’s that whole dynamic that has them pushing
each other harder than any coach could push. Their coaches design workouts,
then just sit back and watch them progress.
“They’re basically one and the same,”
Dagnachew said. “They still room together, and I think they agree that they
are each other’s best friends.”
In the distance medley relay triumph, the
Kotts were joined with two veteran Pirate distance runners who have
distinguished themselves in cross country and track. Junior Amanda Lapp led
off with the 1,200 meters, followed by Britney Kott in the 400 meters,
Brooke Kott in the 800 and the anchor, senior Brittany Copeland, running the
mile in a blazing-fast 4:42. Copeland also broke her own record in the 3,000
meters at the meet, finishing in 9:24.10.
The Kotts and their medley relay teammates
aren’t settled with busting a nearly decade old school record. With a road
trip to a meet in Ohio and the Conference USA Championships remaining in the
indoor season, they have their sights on besting their own new mark and
competing on a national level.
As amazed as she was by some of the times her
runners turned in at Penn, Dagnachew keeps remembering what the women said
to her when their big race was over.
“Everybody got off the track and said, ‘I had
more. I could have run it faster,’” she said.
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