North Shore Swim Club

From the Duluth News Tribune
Published By Rick Lubbers – Oct. 30, 2009

Duluth East swimming twins blazing their own path

It’s not easy to tell Lisa and Elizabeth Reed apart. Even Duluth East girls swimming coach Kyle Hartl, who has known the twin sisters for several years, can still get the junior standouts confused.

“I swam with their older sisters and I essentially watched them grow up swimming,” Hartl said. “I always referred to them as Reed 1 and Reed 2 because I couldn’t tell them apart back then either.”

But Hartl now has a foolproof trick for telling 17-year-old Lisa from Elizabeth and vice versa.

“I have trouble telling them apart on land, but when I am watching them swim I can definitely tell who’s who,” Hartl said. “Lisa’s got a little bit more of an aggressive style in her stroke; she is a real powerhouse. And Elizabeth is a really long, smooth, efficient swimmer. Not to take power or efficiency away from either one of them, but watching them swim I can tell a difference.”

The Reeds say there are other ways to tell them apart, although, as Elizabeth puts it, “It’s kind of fun to confuse the other teams.”

“We’re actually really different,” said Lisa, the elder twin by 10 minutes. “People say I’m more outgoing and I talk more, and they say she’s quiet and shy.”

“[Our] mom dressed us alike,” Elizabeth said of their youth. “We wore the same clothes with different colors until she let us dress ourselves.”

The Reeds might have different swimming styles and personalities, but they post similar results in the pool. They have logged some of the fastest times in the Twin Ports area in several events this season. In this week’s News Tribune Prep Swimming Honor Roll, Elizabeth and Lisa are first and second, respectively, in both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, while Lisa ranks second in the 100 butterfly and Elizabeth is fifth in the 100 backstroke. They also join forces on relays.

Elizabeth represented Duluth East at state in the 500 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay a year ago, while Lisa was an alternate for the 200 individual medley relay.

“They bring an added dimension to our team; they bring depth,” Hartl said. “They bring a competitive attitude that is really contagious and really fun.”

And it stays contagious and fun as long as they’re not swimming against each other in individual events.

Hartl said he’s never seen the Reeds’ friendly sibling rivalry boil over into a simmering sisterly feud, but the first-year Greyhound coach has heard stories and doesn’t take any chances when he’s filling out his event card.

“Every meet I’ll flip-flop them in events so they don’t have to compete against each other,” Hartl said.

“It’s tough [when it’s for] bragging rights,” Lisa admitted. “It can be fun, but it can be bad sometimes.”

Lisa and Elizabeth likely acquired that competitive fire early in their childhoods while watching their older sisters Nikki, a former state champion, and Kari, another Greyhound standout who swam collegiately at Gustavus Adolphus College. By the time the twins were in second grade, they were swimming competitively and becoming staples with the North Shore Swim Club.

The Reeds say following their highly successful sisters doesn’t put pressure on them, but instead instills confidence.

“It’s good to know that they did this before us, so hopefully we can be as good as they were,” Elizabeth said.

Hartl doesn’t doubt that at all, especially now that he can tell them apart.

“Swimming is in their history, swimming is in their blood, but they’re definitely blazing their own path and doing it their way.”