CB East’s Cade and Cole Sands are double trouble for opponents on the lacrosse course. (Photos provided)
By DENNY DYROFF
Imagine you’re a scholastic cross country runner and you’re competing in the same meet as Central Bucks East.
You’re moving along well and heading into third mile when a runner comes up on you.
A glance over your shoulder reveals that the runner is a thin blonde wearing the red-and-white colors of CB East.
As he moves past you, you get a good look at his face – and then a view of his back as he starts to put some distance between the two of you.
You maintain your pace and don’t attempt to chase that runner.
A few seconds later, you sense that another runner is closing the gap from behind.
As he catches up to you, a glance over your shoulder reveals that the runner is a thin blonde wearing the red-and-white colors of CB East.
As he moves past you, you get a good look at his face – and then a view of his back as he starts to put some distance between the two of you.
That’s when a little bit of confusion sets in.
The face is the same face that you saw less than one minute earlier. You’re positive that it’s the same face.
Seemingly, two possibilities exist. Either you’re experiencing déjà vu or else oxygen deprivation is making you hallucinate.
But, there is a third possibility.
You’re not seeing double. What has happened is that you’ve just been passed in succession by the Sands twins – Cade and Cole.
“I guess that does happen at times during races,” said Cade Sands, during a phone interview Wednesday evening. “I like to control the first two miles and then pick it up some in the third mile.”
Cole Sands said, “I feel the same way. I like to run even splits. We usually take out the first two miles together. We like to pick off runners because it’s good motivation.”
Sands-induced “Double Vision” is a situation that has happened to runners numerous times during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
And, it’s a situation that likely will occur a lot more this season as the Sands brothers run well and serve as key contributors to team victories by the Patriots.
It just happened last Saturday when the twins both finished in the top seven in the Large School Race at the Bulldog Invitational, which was held September 16 at Rose Tree Park in Media.
The Sands’ performances played a major role in East’s title-winning effort as a team.
Cade Sands finished fourth in 17:07 while Upper Dublin’s Ben Brugger crossed first at 16:43. Cole Sands placed seventh with a time of 17:17. The Pats’ other scorers were Alex Bardwell (eighth), Andrew Conte (10th) and Declan Earles (11th).
“Cole and Cade are very athletic and very dedicated,” said C.B. East coach Sam Losorelli. “They’re hard-working and they’re committed. Their goal is to get the team to states (PIAA Championships).
“Last year, there was some leadership lacking with our team. The twins have stepped up as team leaders. Both want to be captain. They lead by example. And, they’ve been stepping up big-time with their performances this season.”
The twins started their invitational season in the Lehigh Valley on September 2 at the Northampton Invitational. Cole nabbed a seventh-place medal at 16:15 and Cade placed 18th at 16:41.
One week later, C.B. East traveled to Kutztown – to “The Farm Course” to run in the highly-competitive PTXC9 race. Cole checked in at 41 and Cade at 60 in the top-flight Gold Race.
East was led by David Endres, who placed 11th.
“They really are identical twins,” said Losorelli. “The way that I can tell them apart is that Cole has a mole. I call him ‘Cole the Mole.’
“Since freshman year, they’ve physically matured into young men. They both grew over the summer and Cade is just a little taller.”
Cade is also just a little older.
“I’m three minutes older than Cole,” Cade said. “I did grow some over last summer and I’m 5-10 now.”
Cole said, “We were the same size for a long time – all the way up to this year. He got taller than me this summer. I’m 5-8 1/2. When it comes to athletics, we’re pretty much the same.”
Like many runners, the Sands twins did not venture into the world of sports as runners.
“When we were younger, we competed in a lot of sports,” said Cade. “We did run 5K races occasionally but it was nothing serious.”
Cole said, “Our main sports were basketball, soccer and lacrosse.”
At the time, the Sands family already had a runner. Connor Sands was a top-flight runner at C.B. East. He now attends Cornell University but no longer runs competitively.
“Connor was on the cross country team at East,” said Cole. “He encouraged us to run middle school track. So, we did.
“After that, we stopped other sports and joined the East cross country team as freshmen. We were both very enthusiastic about running cross country.”
Cade said, “We just thought we excelled most at cross country. We figured it would take us the farthest. We’ll probably keep running in college.”
Cole said, “Freshman year went pretty well because our brother taught us a lot. We also had good team captains like Jake Brophy and Josh Goetz.”
In the 2015 season, the young and considerably smaller-than-now twins fared well.
At the Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships, Cade was 24th and Cole was 29th. At the brutally tough District One Class AAA Championships, Cade finished 83rd and Cole crossed at 134.
“As freshmen, they went to states,” said Losorelli. “Jake Brophy was their mentor.”
East turned in a solid performance at the PIAA Class AAA Championships in Hershey that year. The Patriots placed eighth with help from Cole at 140 and Cade at 146.
Last season, Cole was 18th at the Continental Conference meet and 102nd at the District One Championships while Cade was 23rd at the conference meet and 170th at districts.
“We only had one main runner graduate from last year’s team,” said Losorelli. “We had a really strong sophomore class last year and they’re stepping it up already this season.
“Cole is usually number one with the twins. At the Bulldog meet, he had cramps and Cade was the better finisher.
“They both worked really hard over the summer and put in a lot of miles. They were very diligent with their mileage. Last week, they peaked at 55-60 miles.”
Cade said, “We took our summer running more serious than we did in previous years. We started a week after school ended in June and put in a lot of miles.
“We had optional team practice every morning. We also ran at the beach when we were on vacation in Avalon. Most of it was regular running but we did actually run on the beach a few times.
“Our team has good depth. We’re planning on trying to get back to states.”
The Sands brothers are more than just athletes. They are members of student council and Key Club at East. And, they just submitted their applications to join the National Honor Society.
“Basketball is our hobby but we also are active in community service projects,” said Cole.
“We’ve been involved in blood drives for the American Red Cross. And, we also drive around collecting food from restaurants for Food Pantry donations.”
The twins also devote a lot of energy into facing off against each other in almost anything competitive – from races to games to academics.
“It definitely helps that we’re twins and that we are also super-competitive,” said Cade.
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