If you have ever found yourself walking the Panther Trail one afternoon during a cross country practice, you might have thought you were seeing double.

You were not. What you did see were two of Eastern’s most recognizable athletes, twin brothers Brian and Doug Mateas.

Brian and Doug Mateas are sophomore runners on the Eastern cross country team. The two share a bond not only as brothers, but as teammates and roommates as well.

Brian said that he and Doug did not start enjoying and running cross country until high school. Doug said that he originally wanted to focus on baseball in high school.

“But our high school cross country coach called us and asked if we could come out and try cross country,” said Doug. “After that I kind of fell in love with the sport.”

Brain and Doug attended West Chicago Community High School before graduating in 2009 and coming to Eastern.

Along with being teammates, Doug and Brian are also roommates and the two get along great.

“We’re so similar to each other, with our living habits and everything, Brian said. “We’re just so similar roommate-wise. We just get along. I’ve lived with him my whole life pretty much. I like it.”

Doug said that he enjoys living together too and that it is pretty much the same as when they are at home. He says that they do not fight much either.

Being twins and bearing a very similar resemblance to one another, Brian and Doug are often confused for each other.

Brian said that people do get the two of them confused but people who are close to them can tell them apart.

“Some people can tell us apart really easily or some people have a lot of difficulty with it,” Doug said. “I get used to it though. I’ve gotten used to responding to people calling me Brian.”

It is always said that rivalry is good for competition and that is the case with Brian and Doug.

“There is most definitely a rivalry between us,” Brian said. “I want both of us to do well, but of course I want to beat him and come out on top.”

Doug said that he tends to beat Brian more in cross country races but Brian tends to beat him when they run track.

Even though the twins will both not be competing in the upcoming Notre Dame Invite held in South Bend; they both have high hopes for the team’s performance.

Brian said that the team did not do as good as they would have liked at the Illinois Intercollegiate and they want to make a statement at Norte Dame.

“We’re going to preform really well at Notre Dame,” Doug said. “We have a really good core of about five, six or seven runners who are all up there with each other. We’re looking to pick it up at Notre Dame.”

As for how the season has started out and for the future of Easterns cross country, both Brian and Doug like where the team is headed.

“Our first meet at the Panther Open, everyone ran great and set personal records,” Brian said. “It was a really big eye-opener of what we can do. We have a really good chance of winning Ohio Valley Conference and that’s our ultimate goal as a team.”

After the Notre Dame Invite, the Mateas brothers and the rest of the Panthers cross country team will head to Peoria for the Bradley Invite on October 15th.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached

at 581-7944 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu