Twins Joshua and Justin Willson, have started their collegiate career together in green and gold, and they are excited for the outdoor season with the rest of the team.
The two started running together during their freshman year of high school and the tradition continues today. Their family ties are what drew them to Oswego State instead of other schools that were trying to get them to commit.
“I had to chose between Fredonia and Oswego,” Joshua said. “[My brother] was choosing between Coastal Carolina, he wouldn’t run track there, and Oswego. He didn’t want to choose Coastal because it was too much money, so I decided to go to with him to Oswego.”
The coaching staff is ready to see their talent during meets. Justin is a multi-event athlete and can help his team tremendously.
“Justin is a very good multi-event athlete,” head coach Derek Rousseau said. “So he is going to run a decathlon.”
Joshua competes in the pole vault, a difficult event to get covered and be competitive in, from a coach’s perspective.
“[The pole vault event] is kind of a specialist niche event,” Rousseau said. “If you can get a guy who is talented in that event, you’re already a step ahead of the competition.”
Despite competing in different events, Joshua and Justin have a friendly competition and use one another as motivation. The Buffalo natives feel because they are twins they help each other work harder. That positive motivation could be very beneficial once the spring season gets underway.
“The competition goes all the way back to our freshman year of high school when we both did pole vault,” Joshua said.The Willson twins bring a wide array of talent that will help the team be more complete and perform better overall in the SUNYAC.
“They allow us to cover some gaps that we’ve had in years past in our program, and cover it with a lot of talent and skill,” Rousseau said. “These guys have very different talents. There’s not a lot of overlap and they actually allow us, with the two athletes, to cover a wide variety of events.”
In years to come Rousseau feels that they will be even better athletes than they are right now. The step from high school track to the collegiate level is a big one.
“Once they get adapted to the training [and] get adapted to the climate of competing at the college level, we’ll really see how far their personal best are going to go,” Rousseau said.
The new season brings new expectations for the Wilson twins, and the team as a whole.
“[I’m looking forward] to making new friends and becoming a better person, but also trying to jump higher,” Joshua said.
Although the outdoor season is approaching, the end of the indoor season is still in front of the Lakers. The team will be traveling Saturday to compete against the College at Brockport in its final tune-up before the SUNYAC Championships on Feb. 26, also at the Golden Eagles’ home track.
