Prep Beat -- Mustangs Double Trouble In Football -- Four Sets Of Twins Help Multiply Wins At Redmond High

The commercial potential looks immeasurable at Redmond High, where the football team is a rushing, pass-catching, blocking, tackling advertisement for Doublemint gum.

No fewer than four sets of twins play varsity football for the unbeaten Mustangs, and all eight are regular players.

"At first you couldn't tell them apart if your life depended on it," junior quarterback Cameron Fricks said. "You'd just yell, `Matt!' If he turned around it's Matt, if he doesn't it's Jason.

Juniors Matt and Jason McDougall are the only identical twins in the group, but seniors Ryan and Brandon Pickering and seniors Adam and John Poort also look like remarkably alike. Seniors Brian and Graham Martin are the fourth set.

"We thought it was unusual," Brandon Pickering said. "And then when the McDougalls came in, we thought, `This is really unusual.' "

The McDougalls moved to Redmond last year, adding to the three pairs already there - and bringing the total number of twin sets in the school to 11.

"I've never been on a team with as many twins as these guys," said Fricks, who added, "I've never been on a team with any twins."

Said Brian Martin: "It's a conversation piece."

Because each twin is about the same height, weight and ability, each has a custom-made advantage over the non-twins on the team.

"Everyone's got somebody to compete against (in training)," said Adam Poort, who at 6 feet 5 joins his 6-5 brother to make the twin peaks of the team.

"They're all pretty good players, so that makes it nice," Coach Rik Haines said.

And they're all healthy. Which hasn't been the case all season.

In fact, the Martins were both injured at the same time, Brian since July 16 with a broken wrist and Graham for three weeks with a twisted knee.

But both returned at the same time two weeks ago. Of course.

"It's a twin thing," Graham said.

Skoglund ski-daddles

Bellevue High's Tatum Skoglund, a fourth-year senior starter for the Wolverine girls soccer team, left Sunday for the land of Arnold Schwarzenegger to train with the United States ski team in Austria.

She's expected to miss four games during the two-week trip.

"I'll be back for at least the last three games," said Skoglund, who also missed two weeks of last season for the same reason.

But that trip to Italy and Switzerland was much easier to make, Skoglund said, because Bellevue was struggling through a one-win soccer season.

Even after losing its past two games to Woodinville and Lake Washington, the Wolverines (2-3-1 in KingCo, 5-4-1 overall) have a winning overall record and are in the thick of the race for a KingCo Conference playoff berth.

"It's a bummer to leave, that's for sure," Skoglund said.

Leading by example

The firsts keep pouring in for John Hill.

Named to his first head-coaching job when he took over the Bellevue High cross country team this fall, Hill also is preparing for his first Olympic Trials.

Hill, 27, qualified for next February's marathon trials in Charlotte, N.C., by meeting a lofty qualifying standard during the 1994 Boston Marathon.

His 2-hour, 17-minute, 44-second run placed him 34th overall and among the top five Americans, but more importantly it surpassed the "A" standard - he not only qualifies for a trip to Charlotte but gets it paid for, too.

"It's a pretty neat deal," said the bank teller, who lives in Seattle. "I'm real pleased."

He's expected to be among perhaps 100 or more runners vying for three spots on the U.S. Olympic team. Even if he makes the team, he must do so with a time of 2:14:30 or better to qualify to compete in the actual Olympic race. The Trials consists of one marathon.

"It kind of comes down to being in the best shape of your life and having a little bit of luck," said Hill, who trains under Coach Alan Bonney, husband and trainer to Olympian Regina Joyce.

Hill also ran the Boston Marathon this year, but after a strong 18 miles finished at a walk after his back muscles stiffened. "It was strangely encouraging," he said.

Maybe the only thing stranger is what the surging Bellevue boys cross country team is doing this season. Behind junior Mike Hill (John's brother) and sophomore Mike Nielson, the Wolverines are 4-2 in KingCo through three weeks, after going winless a year ago.

"These guys are turning it around," said Hill, an '86 graduate of Bellevue. "They're starting to believe in themselves."

And maybe in their coach, too.

Notes

-- Kennedy High School's volleyball team is unbeaten (23-0) and ranked No. 2 in the latest Class AA state poll.

"We have tremendous chemistry," Coach Tom Muckerheide said. "I'd rather use the word Christianity. They love each other. Well, maybe love is too strong of a word, but these kids get along better than usual. That's why they seem to have a synchrony when the play."