John and Jeanette Pettigrew have been close since the day they were born.

Fraternal twins, John and Jeanette are more then just brother and sister, they’re also Division I athletes.

Jeanette, a sprinter on the BG track team, and John, a running back on the football team, have both enjoyed having their sibling on campus. But it’s their mother, Joann, who has enjoyed having both of her children at the same place.

“It definitely made my mom happy; she comes down here for every game and meet. She also comes down when there isn’t a meet or game,” Jeanette said.

“She’s [my mom] definitely my biggest fan,” John said. “She’s there for everything.”

While Joann — who resides in Cuyahoga Falls, a suburb of Akron and Cleveland — is both of her children’s biggest fan, both John and Jeanette feel each other finish second on the list, as they both attend each other’s game and meets regularly.

“She’s definitely my second biggest fan,” John said.

The Pettigrews both ended up at BG through separate paths. Jeanette chose to become a Falcon first after the recruiting process during John’s high school football season.

“As soon as I arrived on campus, I didn’t have any question or doubt in my mind that I wanted to come here to Bowling Green,” Jeanette said. “But, I didn’t want to tell my brother because I didn’t want to impact his decision.”

Despite his sister’s intent to not affect his decision, John still chose to come to BG for similar reasons that his sister did.

“When she first chose to go to BG, I knew about it. I really was thinking I wasn’t going to like it,” John said. “When I came here I liked the coaches and the campus; it had a real family atmosphere, so I was kind of surprised.”

While Jeanette committed to BG first, John arrived to campus first due to football and was influential in helping his sister get used to life as a collegiate athlete.

“I knew it would be tough for her, and since I already knew a little bit more about it then she did, I helped her cope with [life on campus],” John said.

According to Jeanette, having someone to talk to on campus helped her get used to collegiate life.

One thing that both siblings didn’t have to get used to was running, and they’ve both been doing so their entire lives. And both doing so at BG, one on the track and the other on the field, has allowed them to keep their close family together.

Surprisingly the one thing they couldn’t agree on was who was faster.

“I get that question a lot,” Jeanette said. “Surprisingly, he’s faster, but since I’ve gotten here we haven’t raced, so I might be faster now.”

“We used to run when we were a little younger. I was a little on the chubby side so she could beat me then,” John said. “But now that I’ve been working out, it could be a different story, but then again, she still is running track.”