STONY BROOK, N.Y. —  The races played out differently, but ended equally successful.

And they put the Stony Brook track and field program squarely on the map.
 
In the 3000-meter race at the 116th Penn Relays — held on this date ten years ago — then-junior Lucy Van Dalen Oliver took the lead with about 1000 meters to go. From there, she comfortably cruised to a first place finish, crossing the finish line in a then-school record time of 9:17.23.
 
Head coach Andy Ronan then excitedly hustled over the other side of the track for the next race: the 5000-meter.
 
There, Lucy's twin sister, Holly, toed the line. Just minutes after her sister became a Penn Relay champ, Holly set out to do the same.
 
The race was a lot closer than Lucy's going into the final two laps. Holly took the lead late in the race, and sealed it with a strong push with 150 meters to go. With a then-school record time of 16:06.99, she was a Penn Relay champion.
 
Juniors Lucy and Holly — twins from Wanganui, New Zealand —  swept the 3000m and the 5000m at the Penn Relays, in one of the most important days in the track program's history.
 
"This was a significant moment for the track side of the program," Ronan said. "Cross country had established itself at a regional and national level over the previous couple of years. To be able to pull off these two races in a short period of time at the world's most famous track meet was a big moment."
 
Ronan remembers the day vividly, recalling the strategies for both runners going into the races.
 
"Lucy got a strong lead and closed it out very strongly," Ronan said. "The strategy for Holly was to hit the front before the bell. She took the lead then and it was probably with around 150 meters to go when I felt she was going to win it."
 
Both twins had standout collegiate careers. Lucy, a 2017 inductee into the Stony Brook Athletics Hall of Fame, owns 12 program records, including the distance medley relay record she set in a quartet with Holly.
 
Lucy then went on to become the first female in Stony Brook's Division I era to compete at the Olympics, participating in the Games in London 2012 and Rio 2016. She competed in the 1500m in London and the 5000m in Rio.
 
The twins made an immeasurable impact in cross country as well, where both were named All-Americans.
 
"They arrived in the fall of 2007 and we had a really good group here at that time," Ronan said. "But they were the linchpin that brought the whole program together and elevated us on a conference, regional and national level. They carried the team in 2010 to the number seven in the nation, which is the second-highest team finish of any program at Stony Brook at the national level."
 
Even years after their departure, the program still benefits from their time at Stony Brook.
 
"They helped attract other athletes like [fellow New Zealander] Hayley Green and [5000m record holder] Christina Melian to the program," Ronan said.
 
The twins have each gotten married and moved back to their native country of New Zealand. But what they did on this date ten years ago, along with their entire collegiate careers, will not soon be forgotten.
 
 "They still have an impact on this program, even eight years after they graduated," Ronan said.