The Aborigines of Australia consider twins to be evil harbingers of doom for the entire community. In fact, in many African tribes of antiquity, twins were immediately slaughtered upon birth, while their mothers were banished from the village.
Far less common are cases in which twins represent symbols of good luck. In two of these rare instances, the Togo and Masai of West Africa honor and revere the twins born into the community as omens of good fortune.
The Michigan men's and women's track teams are definitely banking on the truth of the latter superstition.
Both the men's and women's teams have a pair of twins on the roster - Kevin and Martin Bowman, and Tonya and Marcella Cornell.
Kevin and Martin are the sons of Edwin Bowman Jr. and Sheryl Byrd (neither of whom have been banished from their community, of course). They were born Oct. 8, 1976, attended New Providence High School in New Jersey, and are now sophomores on the men's team.
Freshmen Tonya and Marcella were born Aug. 24, 1978. Tonya was born first of the two, but it quickly becomes clear upon talking to them that Marcella is the more social of the pair.
"There are subtle differences," Tonya said. "It's hard to describe. Marcella's more outgoing. We have different interests. It's hard to explain, but if you knew us well, they'd be pretty apparent."
Marcella agreed.
"We're together a lot," she said. "But we have different classes, we have friends that aren't in common with each other. I think that people a lot of times, just because we look alike, we both run track, we have a lot of similar interests - you tend to dwell on the similarities. But there are differences that aren't immediately apparent."
Tonya and Marcella are, indeed, identical twins, and it is very hard to tell them apart when they're by themselves. When they are sitting side by side, however, minor differences in their appearances quickly add up - after a couple of minutes, it's almost easy to forget that they're supposed to look exactly alike.
"There's an analogy we thought of that's pretty useful," Marcella said. "Edith Wharton is my favorite author, and Jane Austen is Tonya's. They both are women that write about relationships and people in society. But their styles are very distinct and different. That is kind of like our personality, because the main things are similar, but when you get down to the details ..."
"... there's a little difference," finished Tonya.
On the other hand, the Bowmans are the epitome of identical twins. They resemble each other so closely that men's coach Jack Harvey can barely tell them apart.
In one instance, Harvey even chose Martin instead of Kevin to travel to Florida for a relay. The problem? Kevin had run a fast time that week and should have been the one to travel. Martin quickly corrected the error.
"I had to call him up and tell him, 'Wait a minute, I think you've got the wrong person,'" Martin said.
Kevin and Martin's appearance isn't the only thing that could cause confusion. Besides having similar academic goals - they share many of the same classes and are both psychology majors - the two also mirror each other in many social aspects.
"We have the same interests in girls, the same friends, the same everything," Kevin said. "But anybody can tell you we have different personalities. There's a good twin and a bad twin, and I'm probably the bad twin."
Kevin describes himself as the more open and free-spirited of the duo, while Martin has a much more laid-back, reserved personality.
When it comes to track, they are, in a sense, equal and opposite - Kevin being the better sprinter, but Martin being the better long jumper. Martin began competing in track before Kevin, but Martin's success - along with a short height that wasn't good for basketball - soon inspired Kevin to follow in his brother's footsteps.
"I was playing basketball back in high school," Kevin said. "And I wasn't growing, and I saw (Martin) bringing home all these medals. I figured I might as well start running and see what happens."
Martin and Kevin are right on the edge of being consistent scorers in the meet. Ultimately, they want to perform at a level where Harvey can depend on them to score in important meets like the Big Ten championships.
"My goal is to contribute to a Big Ten championship," Martin said. "If it's one point or a half-point, it wouldn't matter. I just want to contribute to a championship. That's my first and foremost goal."
Tonya and Marcella are in much the same position on the women's team. Neither of them travel with Michigan as of now, although Marcella did compete in the indoor Big Ten championships, scoring a point in the pentathlon.
Marcella's seemingly small contribution to the Michigan effort proved quite consequential - the Wolverines placed second at Big Tens, barely edging out Ohio State, 82-79. The point she earned also gained Marcella her first varsity letter - an accomplishment that did not go unnoticed by her sister.
"It didn't piss me off," Tonya said. "I tried very hard not to be jealous, I admit that, but I would have never wished her not to go. I was so happy she got to go. Of course, it was hard for me that I didn't get to, but I wanted her to go and do well, and I was so happy when she did."
Marcella and Tonya aren't exactly used to sitting out from competition. They dominated their Class B high school track team in Perry with either of their names appearing five times on the Perry High School track record boards. They are currently working their skills in the heptathlon in an attempt to carve themselves a niche in the Michigan program.
Instead of being disheartened, though, the two enjoy and even expected the extra effort demanded by a team like Michigan.
"We had the opportunity to go to some other schools where we would have been hot shots from the beginning," Marcella said. "We were heavily recruited by some other schools, but we came to Michigan because it was a good school academically, and we knew we would be challenged."
The two are used to pushing each other to perform to their highest potential in everything they do, although they claim there's no rivalry. That means pushing each other very far; besides participating in track, they each have a part-time job and take classes at the same time, 12 credits for Marcella and 14 for Tonya.
"We're not competitive with each other," Marcella said. "But we're very competitive with ourselves, and we push each other a lot to do the best we can and make the other person the best they can be."
Tonya concurred.
"Like in practice if one of us is running and one is going faster, it pushes the other to keep up," she said. "It sets a standard you always try to meet, so I think it's helped make us much better. We don't really compete, like I want to beat Marcella, it's more like I want to run as well as I can, and I know I should at least run with Marcella."
Marcella and Tonya have even used their dual nature to help each other out in a few instances. At the Michigan high school track finals, Marcella accepted the eighth-place medal that Tonya won in the high jump so Tonya could warm up for the 800-meter run.
They have also made use of their advantage in an issue that has become very pertinent of late - cloning.
"We went to different summer institutes," Marcella said. "They had a talent show. We did a thing with finding the key to genetic cloning. We had Tonya snuck in, and we brought her out. I didn't tell anybody I had a twin or sister or anything, so they were pretty surprised when we brought her out and said 'Look we found the key!'"
The two definitely seem to enjoy having another copy of themselves around - a point they made perfectly clear.
"We get tired of each other," Tonya began ....
"But we get along really well," they said - simultaneously, of course.
Being twins can often provide some amusing moments.
"Because we have different classes," Tonya said, "sometimes I'll know someone Marcella knows, but it doesn't always come up in casual conversation, 'Oh, I have a twin.' So, I'm walking along to class and someone will be like, 'Hey, how's it going?' and I have no idea who they are. So I'm just waving, saying 'Hi!'"
The Bowman twins have also taken advantage of their similarities - but not always in the most ethical of ways.
"Sophomore year in high school, I took a test for Kevin that he wasn't really prepared for," Martin said. "I got a B on his test. The next period, I had the same test, and I got an A- on mine. So it worked to both of our advantages."
The pair almost went on to grander, even more illegal, projects.
"I tried to have him (take the SATs for me)," Kevin said. "But he wouldn't do it."
"I could have," Martin admitted. "But I just didn't want to take the test again. It's not that I didn't want to get caught."
Of course, being a twin provides other, non-illicit, benefits, as well. Besides helping each other in classes and pushing each other in track, Martin and Kevin genuinely enjoy each other's company.
"People who have twins and they don't get along with them - I don't understand that," Kevin said. "He's your brother, you gotta live with him, he's the closest person to you. It's a plus."
Despite words to the contrary from many low-grade talk shows, as well as cartoon confirmation from the evil twin brothers of G.I. Joe, both sets of twins insist they do not have special psychic powers.
"No," Marcella said. "We think the thing with that is we just know each other so well. I mean, we know each other better than anyone else. Of course, some times we'll say things at the same time, just like other people do.
"It's just it doesn't make as much of an impression because other people don't look alike. It's that type of thing - not so much psychic, I don't think."
Kevin and Martin also admit to often saying the same things, or even finishing each other's sentences, but also deny possessing any abnormal powers.
"We spend so much time together, do so much stuff together," Martin said. "Our experiences are so much alike that at a given time, in a given situation, we'll both be thinking the exact same thing ..."
"Or both be saying the same thing at the same time," they finished - saying the same thing at the same time. No joke.
Aside from gimmicks, jokes and funny quirks, having a twin means something significant to the Cornells and the Bowmans.
Perhaps this is epitomized best by one of Martin and Kevin's highest track priorities. Their senior year of high school, Martin and Kevin's sprint medley relay was seeded first at the New Jersey high school state meet. Martin and Kevin bumbled the baton hand off between each other, and their relay team finished a disappointing fourth.
"It's the only hand off we ever messed up in high school," Kevin said. "It was our last one.
"All we want is to be able to hand off to each other one more time ..."
"... One more time," Martin mirrored him.
"... Just for closure," Kevin continued.
"Yeah, just for closure," Martin rejoined. "My dad would like to see that. Every time I see him, he's like 'I think you should tell the coach that it should be Bowman and Bowman in the relays.'"
Some day before their careers at Michigan end, the two pairs of twins could very well have that same lineup on the same day - Bowman and Bowman, Cornell and Cornell.
When that happens - and, talking to either pair, one definitely gets the feeling that it will - the Michigan men's and women's track teams, like the ancient Togo and Masai, may have reason to feel truly blessed by the coming of twins.