Anne and Evan Deedy: From being inseparable their entire life to attending colleges across the country from each other

“One more, just one more lap.” 

Senior Evan Deedy muttered those words to his twin sister and senior Anne Deedy, during a rigorous hour-and-a-half morning club swim practice. The Deedy twins have been swimming in the same lane during practices for as long as they can remember. Evan was slightly more energized after his 15-minute nap on the way to their 5 a.m. practice, but Anne was looking forward to her 15-minute rest on the way home from practice. They switch off driving to and from practices to give each other a chance for some extra rest.

The twins have been cutting fractions of seconds off their times ever since they started swimming competitively, and are both committed to swim in college. Anne will be swimming Division I at Georgia Tech and Evan will be swimming Division III at Claremont McKenna College. The twins have grown up in rooms five feet away from each other, and will soon be making the drastic jump across the country from one another.

Evan and Anne have been swimming together ever since they were 4 years old. Their mom, Judith Deedy, knew the importance of teaching them how to swim, so she got them started as soon as she could. 

Both of Deedy’s parents swam at Division I schools in college, but Judith didn’t pressure them into swimming. She signed them up for a variety of sports, such as basketball, baseball and soccer to find which was the right fit for them. They both gravitated toward swimming — just like their parents and sister, Kathleen Deedy, who is swimming in college as well. For the twins, having a mother who understands the commitment is very helpful.

“I think we’re sympathetic and empathetic, like when they have to get up for morning practice I know they’re really tired,” Judith said. “I know how they feel.”

The Deedys are no different than any other siblings — they compete against each other just as much as their opponents, if not more. When they were young, Anne had the edge on Evan, but this shifted as Evan got bigger and stronger when he was 12. According to Evan, Anne went quiet after his times started dropping. 

“I was always beating Evan and so I would just sort of taunt him with that,” Anne said. “Once he started getting past me, I started to let that go.” 

Even outside of swimming, the twins are always together. They share the same gray Nissan Rogue, share the same friends and have six International Baccalaureate classes together.

Choosing schools close together was never a deciding factor for either of them. They considered schools within a 10-minute walk of each other, but also six-hour flights away. After Anne signed to Georgia Tech and Evan signed to Claremont McKenna, Judith’s first thought was about what life would be like without her twins.

“They drive each other nuts at times, but they’re also pretty funny sometimes,” Judith said. “I’ll miss watching them do their little banter.”

For Evan, the idea they’ll be so far apart hasn’t hit them yet, but he believes he’ll start to miss her eventually. He hopes to continue staying in touch through his favorite form of communication: sending memes. 

“I think I’m probably gonna miss messing with each other all the time,” Evan said. “She’s going to be on the opposite side of the country, so I’m gonna have to call her and not just walk five feet over to her room. I need to be better about calling people.”

On the other hand, Anne is hoping that their communication involves more actual phone calls or FaceTime instead of the plethora of weird memes that Evan sends her. Either way, Anne doesn’t know what to expect from their new life without each other.

“I’m going to be like, ‘Where is this human that’s always attached to me?'” Anne said. “It’ll definitely be really, really weird. Once I move in, and once he moves in, and we see how far away from each other we are, it’s really going to sink in.”