Fremd's Allie and Liz Prigge realize the advantages to being twins

When it comes to staying home these days, there is an advantage to having a twin.

Especially when the twins are top-notch athletes.

Not to mention members of Fremd's state championship girls basketball team.

Seniors Allie and Liz Prigge, who participated in 14 different sports during their childhood, managed to play three every year the last four years at Fremd (golf, basketball and soccer).

Unfortunately, due to the COVID 19-pandemic, their final year of soccer has been put on hold.

But the Wisconsin-Whitewater soccer recruits are holding out hope.

"Having my sister right here is such a motivator," Allie said. "We'll remind each other that 'hey, we're going to go back (to school and playing soccer), it's going to happen,' So we have to work hard at home."

That's where having a twin pays off.

"It helps us to stay in shape," Allie added. "We like to push each other at home so we'll be at the same level of fitness as when we were going to school.

"The other day we went on a four-mile run and I wanted to give up so bad. But Liz was like 'No, we're almost done, we've got it', and I finished.

"I feel like if I'd been alone it would have been so much harder mentally to be able to push through and finish. But having my sister there to tell me 'you can do it' really helps a lot."

Liz helped the Vikings in their state tournament run with her stellar defense, limiting the point totals of some game's top players with her aggressive man-to-man coverage.

"The state championship was amazing," Liz said. "It was a surreal moment for me and obviously for our team. Especially now knowing that four days later, everything would start shutting down. But it was an amazing experience. I wouldn't have traded it (basketball title) for anything in the world."

The championship medals are on display on a desk in the twins' home office center downstairs.

"You can see them when you come in the front door and people will say 'oh, what's that?' " Allie said. "If family friends come over, my dad (Glenn) will say 'you should see the medal, you should see the medals,' so he'll make us show them."

Glenn is an accountant, the same field Allie will study at Whitewater. Liz plans to study business, with an emphasis on marketing.

"I've actually been working on taxes with my day," Allie said. "He has been teaching me a lot."

The Prigges would be perfect teachers for how to balance schoolwork and sports.

"When we were younger we wanted to try every sport possible," Allie said. "We played 14 different ones growing up, from baton and swimming to gymnastics and karate. My passion was soccer right at the beginning and soccer is all running."

Running has been quite a time consumer for the twins.

"Actually, we were trying to think where we could find a hill to do sprints," Liz said. "Obviously we run long distance in soccer but sprinting is really important. Then, I was like 'our driveway would be perfect'. It's the only one on the block that's like a hill.

"So we've been doing like 30 to 40 sprints. We'll sprint up the driveway and then we'll walk back down. Our neighbors probably think we're crazy, but it works."

They've found other ways to keep working, too, whether it's seeing who can juggle the soccer ball for the longest time with their feet or kicking long touches in the spacious backyard and using the trees as obstacles.

All in hopes of playing a shortened soccer season this spring or to be ready for the collegiate game at Whitewater.

"They (Whitewater coaches) have been very helpful, " Allie said. "We get videos, get workout plans and we spend a lot time with that."

"We wanted to combine school and sports in college and not have sports be a full-time job like in Division I," Liz said. "And the coaches are so nice and they reached out to us. They've texted us every holiday. It's been a blessing."

And the best part is that they'll be together for another four years.

"I couldn't be more excited to go to school with my sister," Liz said. "We've been sharing rooms since we were little kids and it just means the world for me to go and share the next four years together and share our lives together."

Liz and Allie are the first twin girls that Steve Keller has coached in 21 seasons at Fremd.

Whitewater is a good fit for them," Keller said. "Liz is more of a defensive-type player. Allie is more of an attacking wing type player with speed.

"They're class kids. Their work ethic is great. They go in and life weights in the morning. They work out all hours of the day. They're physical specimens.

"You talk about grit and fight. I've never seen two kids who work as hard as they do."

Just like they are now during these different times - at home.

"If I were here without my sister, I'd probably be bored out of my mind," Allie said. "With no gyms open or practices to attend, I wouldn't know what to do."