As Victoria Garces prepared for her first race of the season Sept. 21 at the Veterans Serving Veterans Invitational in Cadillac, she went through her normal pre-race routine.

But while she jumped in the air as she’s done so many times before, she realized she now had a shadow – her younger sister Emilia.

“We both kind of do the same little warm-up thing,” Victoria Garces said. “We both like to jump before the race, and we were doing it before and I was like, ‘Aw, nobody ever does that with me.’”

On that day, for the first time, the Garces sisters competed together for Midland Dow in a varsity race. They finished first (Victoria) and fifth (Emilia), leading the Chargers to a first-place finish in the event.

Now, having run the second and sixth-fastest times in Lower Peninsula Division 1 this season, they’re looking to take another leap together and lead Dow to even greater things.

“I’ve been in this not too terribly long, but long enough to know not to count your chickens before your eggs hatch,” Dow girls cross country coach Jamie Haruska said. “But we do have a very strong team. What I’m seeing is a lot of inspiration that comes from Victoria and Emilia and Syd Roberts and Maddie (Varhola), and the rest of the team is pushing themselves to say, ‘I want this. I want to be part of this, too.’ We have kids that want to be on that team, and are pushing really hard to be at that level. It’s great, because it’s bringing everybody up.”

Victoria Garces is already well known in Michigan running circles. She finished fifth in each of the past two LP Division 1 Finals, and finished second in the 3,200 and third in the 1,600 at this past spring’s LPD1 Track & Field Finals. She also has to her credit a ninth-place finish in the Wisconsin Division 1 cross country final as a freshman.

This past weekend, she committed to Duke to continue her running career.

“Academics were a big thing for me, and it’s such a good school, but I really liked the team and the coaches,” she said. “I was doing my fair share of visits these past couple of weeks, and it was a tough decision, but I kind of knew as soon as I took my visit (to Duke).”

She’s run just twice for Dow this season, winning both races. Her time of 17 minutes, 16.91 seconds at the Veterans was a personal best, and she followed that up with a 17:26.1 to win the Shepherd BlueJay Invitational Elite race.

Both of those times are faster than her Finals time of 17:29.1 a year ago, which set the school record.

“Going into the first race, I didn’t really have high expectations,” Victoria Garces said. “I kind of always wanted to run under 17:20; that was kind of a goal for me. Ultimately, I hope I break 17, so I got that out there. A lot of my goals are for later in the season. But it was nice just to kind of prove to myself that I’m capable of what I hope to do.”

The lighter start to the season is in service of those later goals. Garces ran into December a year ago, competing in regional and national meets.

Dow competed in five meets before Victoria Garces hit the trail, although it was not without a Garces at the front.

In big sister’s absence, Emilia Garces stepped up in a big way. She finished first at three meets and second at the others, including the Duane Raffin Festival of Races in Holly. She broke 18 minutes in her third career race, running 17:57.2 at Northwood. She’s since run 17:49.8.

“That was pretty wild,” Emilia Garces said of her early-season success. “Going into the season, I definitely had not too high of expectations, so when I started doing well, I was a little surprised, for sure.”

That time also gave Victoria a chance to be the fan watching her sister thrive at the varsity level, a role reversal from the past few years.

“She was having tons of success early on,” Victoria said. “After a little bit, I was itching to race, but I’m glad I held back and she got to shine.”

While Emilia certainly enjoyed leading the pack, she’s excited to now be running with her sister, something she’s looked forward to for years.

“Oh my gosh, it’s been so much fun,” she said. “I went to all my sister’s meets for the past few years and I always thought, ‘I can’t wait to do that, too.’ And the team atmosphere is so great, too.”

The Garces sisters are two of 46 runners on the Dow girls roster, and Haruska said their contributions as teammates have been as impactful as their accomplishments on the course.

“I’ve worked really hard to create a culture where everybody runs and everybody is valued,” Haruska said. “Victoria and Emilia are incredible, they’re national-level runners, but my slowest runners are an equal part of the team, too. Victoria is invested in all of those runners. Emilia, she’s just getting started, but I can see that she’s the same way.”

As for competition between the sisters, it’s friendly if anything. Emilia knows she has some work to do before she can approach her sister’s success, even if she’s off to a faster start to her career.

“I think she knows that she’s a lot better than me as a freshman, so she doesn’t need to rub it in,” Victoria said. “My coach is like, ‘Don’t go out there and just race each other.’ But we normally have our own goals. I guess there’s a little bit of competition, but I think she respects me, and I respect her.”

There’s also some mutual inspiration. Victoria said watching her sister train and thrive early in the season was motivating. Emilia has been motivated by her sister’s work ethic and success for years.

“She motivates me, definitely a lot,” Emilia said. “I feel like she inspires me a lot, watching her do those big things. I want to do those big things, too.”

Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.

PHOTOS (Top) Victoria (475) and Emilia Garces (474) pace with the lead pack during a race this season. (Middle) Victoria, left, and Emilia take a photo at a finish line. (Photos courtesy of the Garces family.)