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Twin Again
Created: 7/15/2004 5:19:12 AM
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When Lindsay Taylor was at Brown University, she was so good at so many events, she became one of the nation's top collegiate heptathletes. In all she collected nine individual Heps titles in addition to her twin sister Brenda's 14. Brenda, who starred at Harvard, has already punched her ticket to Athens, claiming a spot in the 400-meter hurdles.
But now Lindsay has moved on to yet another event and hopes to join her sister for the Games. Lindsay has found a new passion that utilizes her speed, balance, power and fearlessness -- the pole vault. And she has found an appropriate time to peak -- clearing a personal best of 14-7 1/4 at a USATF meet at San Diego State last month. She won that meet by more than two feet!
Kellie Murphy recently caught up with Lindsay Taylor in Idaho, where she trains with Idaho State University Coach Dave Neilson. Murphy learned of Lindsay's interest in prosthetic design, her plans to coach, and her thoughts on multitasking.
KM -- Are you on your way to practice?
Actually, no, I’m still waiting for my car … The part they got in was the wrong part, or they ordered two of the same, and they thought they’d be finished by this morning. So, I wait.
KM -- Where are you training now?
I’ve been training in Pocatello, Idaho, of all places. Dave Neilson is here. He trained Stacy Dragila until last year. He’s a phenomenal coach. Right now I’m injured [note: this interview was in June], so I’m doing a lot of sprint work, a lot of overspeed, a lot of bounding. I’m usually on the track for three to five hours a day.
KM -- So, I hear you studied neuroscience at Brown.
I graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering with a sub-option in mechanical engineering. I went to work at a neurosciences institute because I was working with a man who was at the forefront of prosthetic design. When I went into biomedical engineering my intent was to pursue a career in prosthetic design. It appears these days that really what were looking at is creating prosthetics that operate solely off neural input. So I spent some time reading neuroscience books to catch myself up and was really doing to pretty wonderful research. My interests are really diverse and that’s part of what’s difficult about narrowing down a career field. It’s hard to keep my interest in any one field too long – when I feel like I’ve learned a sufficient amount about it I tend to move on, which would make me a perfect candidate to be a student for the rest of my life.
KM -- So, your dad’s an educator. Do you have any thoughts of teaching? Coaching?
Yes, my dad’s a philosophy professor and my mom works in real estate. They’re very different. My mom’s definitely more creative and artistic and that’s one side of me, I like to paint and sculpt. But my dad -- being a philosopher -- there’s that constant hunger for knowledge, and we (Lindsay and Brenda) certainly gained that, but there’s an opposite end of the spectrum. Philosophy is all about asking questions and we each pursued careers where there are finite answers. So, that was interesting. I think my dad’s the most brilliant person that I know of. I probably wouldn’t teach. I think it goes back to needing to feed my hunger. I’m not sure that I could teach the same subject matter year in and year out. I’m doing some coaching now and it’s gone really well. I’ve actually received several job offers. Being at meets and working with the kids at ISU have led to people asking me what I’m doing next year and informing me that certain positions are open and that I’d be terrific. I have a lot of experience and a heptathlete’s background and am familiar with many events and it’s also biomechanically oriented. I know both how the events should feel and how to optimize them.
KM -- Is it difficult to focus on just one event when you were so used to training for many?
Part of what’s great about Dave as a coach is that he really wants to have his athletes focus on multiple events. So I still did some hurdling this year and played around with many other events. But I’m a perfectionist and doing seven events was always really hard for me because I had a full-time job when I was in San Diego and I’d work from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., then go practice for the next five hours or so and I was just exhausted pretty much 24 hours a day.
KM -- When did you sleep?
I really didn’t then and I wasn’t functioning at the top my game. That, for me, was worse than focusing on just one event. I’d rather know that I have time to set goals and to work toward those goals than try to spread myself too thin, and I tend to do that every once in a while (laughs).
KM -- I’ve also spoken to the O’Neill twins (distance runners from Yale). They oftentimes compete in the same event. Did you and your twin sister ever compete in the same event?
We did. We were gymnasts when we were very young, then we got a little too tall for that. We were swimmers after that. Then, the summer before high school we joined a local track club. We both made it to the Junior Olympic Nationals that summer. We’d never run before. When we were in high school every once in a while we’d have to compete in the same event. It was sort of like: she was the hurdler and I was the jumper. So, in events where she was favored she was expected to win and vice versa. The other usually came in second. We’re our biggest competitors and biggest supporters, it’s great. When we’re at the same meet or training at the same facility, each of us is stronger because of it.
KM -- Is the Ivy League a very close-knit club?
Absolutely! I’ve gotten to experience competition in other conferences during the past few years and there’s just nothing quite like the Ivy. We may focus more on academics than we do on our athletic endeavors, but I’ll tell you when we get on the track together, there’s nothing quite like an Ivy League competition!
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Related Schools: Brown
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Related Sports: Outdoor Track
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*This Article has been archived.*
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