Army West Point Athletics
Feature Friday: The Rennekamp Twins
January 29, 2016 | Women's Track and Field
Feature Friday highlights the tremendous personal stories our coaches and cadet-athletes have to share on a weekly basis. Each Friday, a new feature story will be prominently highlighted on GoArmyWestPoint.com. The features will include multi-media pieces, as well as written stories by media outlets and the Army West Point athletic communications staff.
Two thousand, nine hundred and nineteen miles separate West Point and Beaverton, Ore., but nothing could come between the special bond that comes from having a twin.
Born in the middle of a January blizzard in Louisville, Ky., Justine Rennekamp and Morgan Rennekamp have always done everything together. From which schools they attended to their extracurricular activities, Morgan and Justine have been inseparable. By age 10, the Rennekamps had found a new hobby; track and field. Â
"I've always loved to throw things," said Justine. "We played softball for a while, and I was just always throwing whatever implements I could find as a kid. They gave me a javelin in elementary school and said 'throw this', and I fell in love with it."
By the time she got to high school, Justine knew that she wanted to pursue a career in the military. Her recruitment process would take a unique turn, however, and worked out for the best.
"It started out that my sister was recruited to throw javelin here, and when the Academy asked for her transcripts our high school actually sent mine," admitted Morgan. "The coach here called and asked who Morgan was, and I explained that I did track as well. I never did the heptathlon before, which is what I ended up getting recruited for, but I had done all the individual events so they were able to look at my different scores and figured that I would be pretty good at it. Before that, I hadn't really considered coming to West Point, but I really enjoyed it here when we came on our visit."
During the recruitment visit, both Morgan and Justine fell in love with West Point. The people they met during their visit impacted them greatly, as well as what the Academy stands for, the opportunity to impact people and the track and field program. In the end, both Justine and Morgan ended up getting an offer to join the team.
West Point does not come without its challenges though, especially when you travel all the way across the country in your first time away from home. Morgan and Justine leaned on each other that first year and helped one another get acclimated to the rigors of Army.
"It was really hard adjusting to things my first year," Morgan said. "We had never really left Oregon, so it was the first time we had been away from home, and I wasn't used to the heat, humidity and bugs. It was really hard being away from home and adapting to the people here and the environment, but having Justine here with me did make it a lot easier."
"It was really nice having Morgan here," added Justine. "There's not a lot of us from Oregon here, so having someone you know and can hang out with just made me feel more comfortable in the beginning. We were both in the same BEAST Company because we're both on the track and field team and then the same Buckner Company. It's really been nice having my best friend here to go through all the hardships with me."
Since then, both of them have handled all of the hardships and provided a valuable presence in the track program. Morgan has been the versatile one, competing in 10 different events in her career, while Justine has used a more focused approach. In her final year, Morgan will join her sister in the javelin throw. For the first time in their careers, the twins will compete in the same event.
While only competing in two events, Justine has made her way onto the Academy's top-10 list in each. Her shot put of 13.36 meters at the Battle for Beantown in 2014 ranks ninth all-time, but her major success has come outdoors. With her affinity for throwing things, Justine was a natural at javelin. She captured the Patriot League individual championship in 2014 in the event and set the third-best mark in Army history at 45.04 meters. She responded the following season with a second-place finish at the same meet.
Success is not solely judged on how fast you run or how far you throw, it is about the memories you make and how you have impacted your community to leave it better than when you got there. For Justine and Morgan, their experience at the Academy would not have been the same if both of them were not here.
"It's been fun being on the same team here," said Justine. "We tend to mix up our coaches a lot and mess with a lot of people. We usually do different events, so this is the first year that we've both done the same event. It's pretty cool to have both of us throwing javelin."
"It's been really nice to have an opportunity to compete with her these past four years," continued Morgan. "We've always been on the same team, and, being from Oregon, there's not a lot of people that we are close to or know that understand where we come from, so it was really nice having a sibling close by. I love competing with her. It makes practice much more fun."
When their time as Cadets is over, the Rennekamps will still be together as both Justine and Morgan will enter the Adjutant General Branch.
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Morgan and Justine as children
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Two thousand, nine hundred and nineteen miles separate West Point and Beaverton, Ore., but nothing could come between the special bond that comes from having a twin.
Born in the middle of a January blizzard in Louisville, Ky., Justine Rennekamp and Morgan Rennekamp have always done everything together. From which schools they attended to their extracurricular activities, Morgan and Justine have been inseparable. By age 10, the Rennekamps had found a new hobby; track and field. Â
"I've always loved to throw things," said Justine. "We played softball for a while, and I was just always throwing whatever implements I could find as a kid. They gave me a javelin in elementary school and said 'throw this', and I fell in love with it."
By the time she got to high school, Justine knew that she wanted to pursue a career in the military. Her recruitment process would take a unique turn, however, and worked out for the best.
"It started out that my sister was recruited to throw javelin here, and when the Academy asked for her transcripts our high school actually sent mine," admitted Morgan. "The coach here called and asked who Morgan was, and I explained that I did track as well. I never did the heptathlon before, which is what I ended up getting recruited for, but I had done all the individual events so they were able to look at my different scores and figured that I would be pretty good at it. Before that, I hadn't really considered coming to West Point, but I really enjoyed it here when we came on our visit."
During the recruitment visit, both Morgan and Justine fell in love with West Point. The people they met during their visit impacted them greatly, as well as what the Academy stands for, the opportunity to impact people and the track and field program. In the end, both Justine and Morgan ended up getting an offer to join the team.
West Point does not come without its challenges though, especially when you travel all the way across the country in your first time away from home. Morgan and Justine leaned on each other that first year and helped one another get acclimated to the rigors of Army.
"It was really hard adjusting to things my first year," Morgan said. "We had never really left Oregon, so it was the first time we had been away from home, and I wasn't used to the heat, humidity and bugs. It was really hard being away from home and adapting to the people here and the environment, but having Justine here with me did make it a lot easier."
"It was really nice having Morgan here," added Justine. "There's not a lot of us from Oregon here, so having someone you know and can hang out with just made me feel more comfortable in the beginning. We were both in the same BEAST Company because we're both on the track and field team and then the same Buckner Company. It's really been nice having my best friend here to go through all the hardships with me."
Since then, both of them have handled all of the hardships and provided a valuable presence in the track program. Morgan has been the versatile one, competing in 10 different events in her career, while Justine has used a more focused approach. In her final year, Morgan will join her sister in the javelin throw. For the first time in their careers, the twins will compete in the same event.
While only competing in two events, Justine has made her way onto the Academy's top-10 list in each. Her shot put of 13.36 meters at the Battle for Beantown in 2014 ranks ninth all-time, but her major success has come outdoors. With her affinity for throwing things, Justine was a natural at javelin. She captured the Patriot League individual championship in 2014 in the event and set the third-best mark in Army history at 45.04 meters. She responded the following season with a second-place finish at the same meet.
Success is not solely judged on how fast you run or how far you throw, it is about the memories you make and how you have impacted your community to leave it better than when you got there. For Justine and Morgan, their experience at the Academy would not have been the same if both of them were not here.
"It's been fun being on the same team here," said Justine. "We tend to mix up our coaches a lot and mess with a lot of people. We usually do different events, so this is the first year that we've both done the same event. It's pretty cool to have both of us throwing javelin."
"It's been really nice to have an opportunity to compete with her these past four years," continued Morgan. "We've always been on the same team, and, being from Oregon, there's not a lot of people that we are close to or know that understand where we come from, so it was really nice having a sibling close by. I love competing with her. It makes practice much more fun."
When their time as Cadets is over, the Rennekamps will still be together as both Justine and Morgan will enter the Adjutant General Branch.
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Morgan and Justine as children
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