In most situations in life, it is important to find people who push you to reach your best self. And sometimes, perhaps even for the better, that person is someone close to home.

For twin brothers Carter and Logan Stough, running cross country together at Donegal has been a way to sharpen their abilities and increase the close bond they share in both life and athletics.

“We started cross country in eighth grade,” Carter Stough said earlier this month at LNP | LancasterOnline’s fall media day for cross country. “Logan went out and I said, ‘I don’t want to run; I’m not doing this. You go have fun.’ And it took about a week and a half of me being bored at home while he was at practice and I thought I might as well give it a shot. That’s how this all got started.”

Ever since, the two have been competing both on the running course as well as on the baseball field together in the spring for the Indians.

And on Saturday, the two competed in Warwick’s Warrior Twilight Tune Up Invitational in Lititz to open this season. Logan clocked a 9:20.4 for 28th place overall over the 3K course, while Carter was 43rd in 9:37 flat.

An advantageous benefit of always having a running partner is having someone to keep pace with and then over time continuing to grow with each other.

“I’ve never done a run by myself,” Logan Stough said. “I always have a running partner who keeps the same pace as me. I always have someone to push me, and it’s just the best. I feel like it makes me such a better runner. So it’s just been great to have him for all four years.”

While the two may be equal in experience, the brothers admitted that they believe Logan typically sets the pace, with Carter working to match the time. Last season, Logan had a pace of 5:37 and a final time of 17:26 for a 110th place finish in the PIAA 3A final.

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“Logan does most of the pace pushing and Logan went to states,” Carter Stough said. “I didn’t, but we can change that this year; any given race. We’ll never run alone. Both of us will be there this year.”

“States was awesome; it was a great experience,” Logan Stough said. “I had no goals or anything. My goal was to make states. So once I got there, it was just kind of a run for fun. But it was weird not having Carter to run with.

“I kind of had to run the race on my own for the first time, which was fun but weird at the same time. I’m hoping to get back there again this year.”

The brothers also have high hopes for their team as a whole. After sending five members to last year’s District 3 championship race, Carter Stough said he believes the goal is to get everyone from Donegal in the meet this season. At the 2025 3A district run at Big Spring, Logan Stough finished 33rd with a time of 16:24.3 and Carter Stough finished 74th with a time of 17:06.7.

“Our goal is to make districts as a team,” Carter Stough said. “We just missed out on that last year so that is our main goal this year. We always look forward to Big Spring meets, districts and the big races. So, the goal is to PR those and see what we can go out there and do.

“We’ve had a lot of guys come out this year that we weren’t expecting to come out, and we weren’t expecting it to look as solid as it looks. We’re excited to see what a lot of our new guys have this season.”