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Identical twins Jake and Luke Hoffert bring wealth of talent to Bradley

Redshirt freshman Jake Hoffert ran his career best time, 24:46.0, at last week's Pre-National race in Terre Haute, Indiana. Photo via bradleybraves.com.
Redshirt freshman Jake Hoffert ran his career best time, 24:46.0, at last week’s Pre-National race in Terre Haute, Indiana. Photo via bradleybraves.com.

Redshirt freshmen Jake and Luke Hoffert spend a lot of time together. They like the same things, they live in the same dorm and even have every single class together. Being identical twins, it certainly makes sense that they’re so similar.

So it also makes sense the twins have been running together since middle school and followed each other to run cross country and track at Bradley. The operative term in that last sentence is “running together,” because that is literally what they did in training and meets through high school.

“I had him as a training partner my whole life,” Luke said. “We always know that as long as we stick with each other, we can always make it through. Sometimes, it’s a gamble if you try to find someone and stick with them. But with [Jake], I know how he races because he races like me, and we usually push each other during a race.”

Luke, who is seven minutes older than Jake, said he and his brother are typically grouped together as “the Hoffert twins” instead of as individuals because of their relationship. Physically, it’s tough to distinguish the two. They both have cowlicks, but on different parts of their hairline. That’s the only visible difference.

On the course, it’s even more difficult. The Hofferts were always running together in first and second place while at Yorkville High School. In fact, they won back-to-back Illinois 2A state cross country championships, and they finished first and second both years.

“Throughout high school, it was always me and Luke running together,” Jake said. “It got pretty boring. With our team, we always knew that when Luke and I came in first and second, we had those three points right there so we just had to worry about the rest of the team. High school is nothing compared to college running now, though.”

The Hoffert twins had a choice between Bradley and Notre Dame. Luke and Jake said others were surprised that they chose Bradley over Notre Dame, but to them, the choice was easy.

“The team atmosphere was what pushed me here,” Jake said. “You don’t just go to a school looking [at] the name. I really liked the team here, and I just got this feeling about the team and the atmosphere.”

Luke also loved the team atmosphere and stressed the importance of the collective competitive values the team shares.

“When you come here with a team where everyone is basically like yourself, you all have the same values,” Luke said. “In high school, only [Jake and I] had the same running values. I come here, and we all have the same values because we’re all runners in college. Since we train the same and have the same ability, we have a lot more people we can relate to.”

When the twins chose Bradley, the team was going through a head coach transition as former coach Willy Wood was on his way out. The Hofferts didn’t mind and stayed true to their commitment, and current head coach Darren Gauson said he couldn’t be happier for that.

 

“There’s a lot that goes into recruiting,” Gauson said. “To have them here already was a blessing. They’re super talented, so we’re very fortunate to have them on the team. Having not recruited them, I spent the first couple months getting to know them to know their strengths and weaknesses. It’s great having them on the team now.”

At Bradley, the Hoffert twins are having a different cross-country experience than high school. Luke has frequently dealt with injuries and has not officially ran in a meet at Bradley. Jake, however, is currently a top-five runner on the team after finishing 42nd at Pre-Nationals.

Though they’re not literally running together this season, the Hofferts are not fazed.

In fact, they embrace the change of pace.

“In high school, naturally, since we spend most of our days running, we have kind of the same friends,” Jake said. “On this team, we can have separate friends.”

The twins have been running in somewhat different circles this year because, well, Jake is running and Luke cannot due to injury. Luke said if these injuries happened in high school, he would have been “bummed out.” With the bigger team, though, he has a large support group.

“Now I have so many people that I can train with and other people that may be injured that I can talk to and relate to,” Luke said. “It’s a lot more comforting, I guess. I think’s it not as bad as it could be because I have others to rely on.”

Despite any obstacles, it seems the Hoffert twins can always count on each other. Unlike normal twins, they never fought growing up, at least by their account. Like normal twins, they developed their own language as children. And as brothers, they said they can completely trust each other.

“It was always nice to have someone who is like a piece of you,” Jake said.

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