Opponents See Double With Saddleback’s Lete Twins on Track

Don’t be embarrassed if you can’t tell the Lete brothers apart. Hardly anybody can.

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Jim Knapp, Saddleback High School’s track and field coach, thought he was speaking with Matt after the Sea View League championships last week, but later discovered he had been talking with his twin brother Mel.

“You would think that after four years of having them around, I would be able to tell the difference between the two,” said Knapp, who has headed the Roadrunners’ program for 24 years.

As Knapp is quick to point out, it doesn’t much matter which Lete is in a race. Either is capable of showing up the opposition.

Mel is faster, but Matt has more endurance.

“It’s unusual, but Matt’s a little stronger, and Mel seems to have more energy, which makes him the fastest,” Knapp said.

Never have the Lete brothers played a more formidable role for Saddleback than in the league finals May 6, when they helped account for 54 of Saddleback’s 87 points. The Roadrunners nearly dethroned two-time defending champion Woodbridge, which won by a point.

To open the evening, Mel ran the second leg on the 400-meter relay, then watched his brother anchor the team to a season’s-best time and third-place finish, qualifying it for today’s Southern Section Division II preliminaries. Matt then won the 400 meters in a personal-best 49.09 seconds, and Mel followed by finishing third in the 100 in 11.29. They finished first and second in the 300 intermediate hurdles, then helped the 1,600-relay team to victory.

“Without them, we’re nothing,” Knapp said.

It wasn’t as if Knapp hadn’t seen it before.

Just two weeks earlier, the brothers obliterated the field in the 300 intermediate hurdles at the Orange County Championships. Mel led the way, winning in a then county-leading time of 38.52, with Matt close behind at 39.16.

“It didn’t matter who won or who got second, but (a sweep) was the plan,” said Mel, who qualified for last spring’s State meet in the event.

Added Matt: “That had never happened to us before in that big of a meet.”

Though it appears hurdling is the Letes’ niche, they are two of the busiest athletes at Saddleback.

They got a lot of playing time on offense and defense for the Roadrunners’ football team, despite weighing only 140 pounds each.

And despite the fact that they stand only 5 feet 7, Mel was a starting guard on the basketball team and Matt was a key reserve.

Their favorite sports?

“I think we both like track first, and basketball is second,” said Matt, adding that he and his brother can easily dunk a basketball.

“We knew we weren’t going to get a look from college coaches in football,” said Mel, explaining their dedication to track.

Knapp says the twins’ constant smiles make them unique.

“For me, it’s a real high because I enjoy working with kids who are having a good time,” Knapp said.

Today it’s the section preliminaries and next week the finals. After that, the Masters meet and then State. The latter is the ultimate goal for the Letes.

“It would be nice to get them both there,” said Knapp, who has had an athlete in the State finals each of the last four years.

Said Mel: “I am going to have to get my time down into the 37s if I want to get there.”

Added Matt: “Every time I run the quarter, I get faster. So we’ll see.”

Some might think the competition would create a rift between the brothers. Not so.

“They are so close,” Knapp said. “They are really two loving brothers. They are the kind of boys, that if you were a dad, you’d want them as your sons.”