Sometimes, chemistry can be the most important thing of all.
For the first time this season, twins Brandon and Bernard Bennett-Green ran a race together with their longtime teammate and friend Matt Gilmore.
The three had run the race many times before at the collegiate and high school level.
This time, however, the relay was on one of the biggest stages possible.
The trio from Cheltenham High School, along with senior star Casimir Loxsom ran the 4x400 relay at the Big Ten Indoor Championships this past Saturday, coming up with a third place finish, and a time (3:08.56) less than half a second off of the school’s season high.
“All sports are about chemistry and making sure you have good chemistry amongst your groups and amongst your athletes on the team,” coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. “You have a set of twins and then a teammate from high school who go on to college together. They’re on a mission to do a lot of things and it’s really playing out well for us.”
Originally, only Brandon and Gilmore were intended to run in the relay, and Bernard was only set to partake in individual events.
While senior Emanuel Mpanduki has typically run the 4x400 relay with Loxsom, Gilmore, and Brandon, on this day it was Bernard who got the surprise call.
“We actually didn’t even expect it at all. I only ran the 400, I wasn’t planning on running the 4x400, but I was ready to in case my coach needed me,” the junior said.
Brother Brandon was gracious of the opportunity of a reunion of sorts as well.
“It was big for us, we knew what the stakes were,” he said, regarding the run being the Big Ten finals.
Finishing third, the team earned a bronze medal, but the reaction between the brothers was somewhat split.
Brandon was just happy for the opportunity for the three to run together again.
“We were just happy to have done it again on such a big stage as the Big Ten Championships,” he said.
Bernard, however, thought that they could have done better.
“I’m still disappointed by it because if we would’ve won 4x400 we would’ve won the [men’s] team title, we just missed it by three points,” the junior said. “It was good running with them, but hopefully we can actually achieve something greater and maybe win a 4x400 title at nationals.”
