BUFFALO TWP — The only discernible way to tell twins Dava and Erica Jack apart on this day is by the color of their socks.

One is wearing blue, the other black.

There is another way, according to the Freeport senior track and field twins.

“I'm the sweet one,” Dava Jack says.

“I'm the sassy one,” Erica Jack adds.

That is according to another set of Freeport track twins, Brandon and Dylan Hochbein.

Telling them apart is just as challenging. The hair gives it away: one has a shorter crop than the other.

It certainly is difficult to tell the two sets of Yellowjacket hurdling and sprinting twins apart on the track: all four are standouts.

Freeport hurdle coach Linsey Westerman still has trouble with the sophomore Hochbeins and the senior Jacks.

“It depends on the day,” Westerman said. “They make me second-guess myself all the time.”

On the surface, the Jack twins are a lot alike. But on the track, Dava Jack excels at the 100 sprints while Erica Jack's expertise has been in the 100 hurdles this season.

It wasn't always like that. Last season, their specialties were reversed.

“Now, we each excel at one thing. It makes us different,” Dava Jack said.

“We each have strong points,” Erica Jack added. “So, we can hit all the different aspects of the team and help a lot more.”

The Jack twins also play soccer and basketball.

On the soccer pitch, Dava Jack is a defensive specialist while Erica Jack is a forward and scored 25 goals from the Yellowjackets last season.

“In soccer, she's all the way back on defense and I'm all the way up at forward,” Erica Jack said. “But we are so in tune with each other. We know exactly where the other one is on the field.”

“We just have this connection,” Dava Jack added.

When asked if it is true that twins can sense what the other is feeling when separated, they looked at each other and smiled.

“We don't know,” Dava Jack said. “We're hardly ever separated.”

They both run legs of the Freeport 400-meter relay team, which came close to breaking the school record time at the WPIAL Class AA Team Semifinals Thursday.

Dava Jack won three events that day.

They are best friends with Brandon and Dylan Hochbein, who invited to Jacks to hang out with them one day.

“When we got into high school, we knew of them.” Brandon Hochbein said. “When we got to know them, we just became close friends.”

Brandon Hochbein said he and his brother can easily tell the Jacks apart.

“By the back of their heads, we probably could,” he said.

Westerman said the two sets of twins have helped each other develop.

“They have each used each other to push and make themselves better,” Westerman said. “They are lucky because they are the two fastest boys and the two fastest girls and they have each other right there to push them all the time. I think that makes a huge difference to have someone always in your corner for three, four years of track.”

Dylan Hochbein said the brothers definitely want to one-up each other.

“We're very supportive of each other, but at the same time, we're very competitive,” he said. “We push each other to the edge and to the best of our capabilities.”

Coaches and classmates often confuse both sets of twins.

For the Jacks, it is a source of constant amusement, but they do not milk it for gags.

The Hochbeins, though, sometimes roll with it.

“We'd never pretend to be the other with our coaches,” Brandon Hochbein said, smiling. “They kind of know and if we get busted, we might have to run for it. But the teachers, we definitely have. It's a fun joke.”

Dylan Hochbein said the confusion sometimes gets old, especially when he is called by Brandon's name.

“I prefer Dylan, obviously,” he said. “But if they call me Brandon, I just go with it.”