MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Elijah Tuckey and Josh Tuckey are identical twins who are both freshmen and members of the Millersville wrestling team, but there are key differences between them. For starters, they are fans of wildly different NFL teams (Josh supports the San Diego Chargers while Elijah supports the Miami Dolphins). What they come together and agree upon, though, is their love for the sport of wrestling.
 
 "I love the challenge of wrestling, both mentally and physically," said Josh. "It's not easy. It pushes us to be the best person we can be. There's a quote: 'Once you've done wrestling, everything else in life is easier.' That is obviously true. I saw it in my first semester here at Millersville. If you can persevere in the sport then you can persevere in anything that you do."
 
"I like it because of the mental toughness," said Elijah. "I like how hard it is and the challenge. Like Josh was saying, not everyone can come in here and do what we do, and I like beating up on people if I can and not getting in trouble for it."
 
The Tuckeys began their journey into the sport in the first grade, when Elijah brought home a flyer and showed it to his parents, who were both basketball players growing up.
 
"They asked us, 'Do you really want to do this?' said Elijah. "We said yes and from there it just sprouted. We started wrestling and fell in love with it in elementary and middle school. It just got more and more intense in high school."
 
Elijah and Josh grew up in Biglerville, Pa., which is a wrestling-crazed community in Adams County that has one of the best wrestling rivalries in the state with the neighboring Bermudian Springs School District. The support system in Biglerville, affectionately titled "Canner Nation," is always there to build up its local wrestlers.
 
"We couldn't have had a better community," said Josh. "It was fun to blossom in the sport of wrestling in Biglerville and have them behind us."
 
Often, pairs of siblings that both wrestle are happy to have a built-in practice partner growing up under the same roof. Surprisingly, the Tuckeys—competitive to the core—do not follow that trend.
 
"Honestly, Eli and I don't practice well together," said Josh. "We get into a lot of fights in the practice room. At a tournament or pre-match warming up together we're fine as long as we keep our cool. After practice, though, we talk wrestling a lot. We definitely talk to each other to learn stuff."
 
The Tuckey brothers also had a huge decision to make about what to do after high school and whether to stay together or go their separate ways.
 
"Our parents always asked, 'Do you want to go to the same college?' said Elijah. "We didn't really know. Millersville was the first visit we did and right away it just kind of clicked. We love Coach [Kerry] Regner and the program so we decided. It was just kind of instant."
 
"At the beginning, I think Eli said he wanted to go somewhere different," said Josh. "But I'm glad that we both went here. I just enjoy having my brother here and creating tons of relationships with my other brothers on the wrestling mats."
 
Josh and Elijah have been a welcome addition to the Millersville wrestling room as the program continues to improve. The Marauders have won more dual meets already in the 2019-2020 season than they did last year. Josh has redshirted this season and earned two unattached victories in the 149-pound weight class. 141-pounder Elijah has won nine matches this season. The twins' real value to the program isn't about wins and losses this season, though; it is about the positive impact and culture they are helping to create for Millersville wrestling. They have fully bought in to the team's new mantra, which is simply a greater than symbol worn on the sleeves of their practice gear. 
 
"I feel like the symbol on my left arm—greater than—proves that it's one of our jobs to bring positive energy and help everyone improve," said Elijah. "If you don't have a positive atmosphere then you can't really learn or grow in the sport. If you have negative energy then you'll always be looking at the bad side of things. There's a point in this sport where you have to look at what you're bad at and where you can get better. You need a positive mindset to improve."

"Some days we may be off or may be having a bad day, but we take it upon ourselves to pick each other up," said Josh. "You're not going to be 110 percent all the time but it's our job to lift everyone else up and push ourselves to get through it. We have a motto: one percent better every day. Whenever you train in the room, you need to find a specific thing you're getting better at, whether mentally or physically."
 
Regner is happy to have them aboard.

"A friend of mine coached them and told me, 'These are the guys you want, period,'" said Regner. "I think they're the type of wrestlers that if you say, 'This is what you need to do to have success,' you will see them do it without question. If you tell them to fix something they'll fix it. If they need to get stronger, they'll be in the weight room by themselves. You just have to tell them; you don't have to push them."