About 25 meters from the finish line, Grant and Jackson Heimsoth suddenly stop on Marengo’s track. This is not a race. Otherwise, the speedy brothers would be flying, with Jackson’s wavy hair – Grant’s hair is cut short – bouncing in the wind.

“I got tired of getting called Grant, so I was like, ‘I’ll just have my hair a little longer,’ ” Jackson said.

The junior identical twins greet a visitor while, purely coincidentally, standing only a few meters away from the presence of another Heimsoth. A vinyl banner of their older sister hangs on the fence of the home-side bleachers. Regan Heimsoth is wearing a maroon Marengo jersey while holding a soccer ball on her right hip. She played soccer and ran track this spring after her brothers convinced her to go out for the latter sport her senior year.

Just what Marengo track opponents need: Another fast Heimsoth to compete against.

“Jackson and Grant are two of the hardest workers on the team,” Marengo boys track and field coach Brad Wignes said. “They are great leaders in track and field and excellent students in the classroom. They exemplify what it means to be a student-athlete in every sense of the word. They are very coachable, and I’ve enjoyed coaching them over these last three years.”

Marengo’s sprint relays have dominated all spring, and its speedy twins have been a major reason why. At the McHenry County Meet, Jackson was named the Boys Athlete of the Meet after winning the 200-meter dash, anchoring the victorious 4x100 and 4x200 relays and finishing second in the 100.

Jackson dominated again in the Kishwaukee River Conference Meet, as he won the 100 (season-best 11.10 seconds) and 200 (22.76) races and also anchored the 4x100 (43.14) and 4x200 (season-best 1:29.29) relays to victory. As he has all season, Grant ran the third leg on the two sprint relays.

“Not a lot of people can say they hand off to their twin brother in a relay,” Grant said. “That’s pretty cool to do that and know that we can finish a race strong between the two of us. We’re pretty confident in what we can do together. We always know that when I get the baton, the race isn’t over yet because we have us two to close out the race.”

Fellow juniors Sam Tucker and Michael Gieseke run the first and second legs, respectively, on the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. Jackson understands his ability to finish is due in large part to his big brother, who’s one minute older.

“I like to have a strong runner at third leg,” Jackson said. “Usually, teams hide their weaknesses at third. It’s nice to have a guy who can pass everyone and set us up for success – just have a really fast transition with the baton and then win a race.”

Marengo competes in the Class 2A Richmond-Burton Sectional on Wednesday, and the Rockets’ relays – “cheetahs,” as Marengo football Twitter calls them – are ready to pounce.

Jackson will have what he calls a new challenge at sectionals, as he revealed he plans to run the 4x400 relay, which is run immediately after the 200, as well as the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. The Indians’ 4x400 relay is expected to feature (in order) junior Jackson Knake, Jackson, Grant and Gieseke, who will anchor.

“Our goal is to make it to state for all three relays,” Grant said. “We’ve had some success in those relays, so we think that would be pretty cool to get to state for all of those.”

Last year, Jackson qualified for state in the 200 and the 4x200 relay, which also included his twin, Gieseke and Damien Buol, who has since graduated. At state, Jackson ran a personal-best 22.10 in the 200, just missing qualifying for Saturday’s finals.

He has yet to run faster than that time this season.

“Our weather has been really unlucky,” Jackson said. “Our relays have been a lot better than last year. We’ve set some school records [in both sprint relays], some PRs. In my open 200, I’m getting pretty close to my time last year. Usually, at this time is when you see a lot of PRs [because] it’s nice weather, so hopefully at sectionals I can get a PR in the 200 and some of the relays as well. I feel like I have gotten faster, though [since last year].”

The twins say football has helped them increase their speed. While many high school boys compete in track and field to help them with football, the Heimsoth brothers, both of whom stand about 6 feet and weigh 150 pounds, are the opposite.

They played soccer in their freshman and sophomore years.

“We switched [to football] to get faster for track, and I feel like it’s paying off this season,” Jackson said. “Football is a good experience. It’s really fun.”

The brothers played wide receiver as first-year football players last fall and were members of a seven-win team that qualified for the Class 4A playoffs.

“We’d be running miles for soccer, and it was like, ‘Why am I running miles when on the track I’m running sprints?’ ” Grant said. “[Head football] coach [Paul] Forsythe was trying to recruit us because we’re pretty fast. It’s a big adjustment from soccer to football, so last year we were just getting the hang of things. Hopefully, this year we’re more prepared and ready to have a better season.”

Future success for the twins, whether in football or track, wouldn’t be surprising considering the athleticism that runs in the family. Parents Chad (track) and Shannon (volleyball) were athletes for Marengo, graduating in 1994. Carter, who’s the oldest of Chad and Shannon’s four children, is a junior at Grand Valley State University and a former Marengo baseball player.

“It’s nice to see our hard work in practice pay off this season,” Grant said. “We spent a lot of time in the offseason in the summer at the track, in the weight room. I feel like that’s also really paid off.”

Grant acknowledges Jackson has more speed than him.

“Some people like to say I’m smarter, and he’s faster,” Grant said.

Jackson rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said, smiling. “It’s nice to have a competitive environment with Grant at practice. “We’re winning a lot this season, so it definitely adds to the enjoyable aspect of track.”