As if a mirror image, they get behind the block and get in the zone. They fidget with their goggles, tug on their suits and shake out their limbs. As soon as they hear their name announced, time stops. They focus on nothing but the pool in front of them.

Juniors Sheila and Michelle Rhoades prepare in almost identical fashion before they dive into the pool for a race.

“During my first race, Sheila’s over here watching me, and I guess I did the same exact thing she does,” Michelle said. “And I didn’t even realize I was doing it.”

Twins Sheila and Michelle aren’t sure whether or not they’re identical, because it was too late in their mother’s pregnancy to determine if there were two separate eggs. But Head Coach Paula Miller said their stroke is, in fact, identical.

“When you look at the stroke, Sheila has one arm that she swings and the hand comes up,” Miller said. “And it’s like, ‘Why don’t you correct it?’ Why correct something that’s so [good]? No, I’m not correcting anything. And actually, Michelle has the identical stroke.”

This stroke led Sheila to set three pool records last weekend in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle at Rochester Institute of Technology while making the NCAA B qualifying standard with times of 23.95, 52.25 and 1:54.95, respectively.

“It was kind of a relief knowing that I made the provisional cuts already,” Sheila said. “It’s a good indication of how I’m going to do later in the season, and knowing that I can do that right now is really encouraging and exciting.”

Sheila has gone to nationals in both of her first two seasons, but she said one of the most important things is to qualify as a member of a relay team.

“It wouldn’t be fun going to nationals without other people there, and having that for the last two years — I just want it again,”

Miller said Sheila’s performance as an anchor of relay teams is something she never doubts.

“There are not many people who like being in that stressful situation,” Miller said. “No. 1, it’s usually the faster of the athletes, but No. 2 even more so, the mentally strongest, because that’s a lot of pressure on you. She’s in there, and she’s going to do 100 percent. There’s not going to be any mental errors at all. So we all have a lot of faith in her.”

Miller said Michelle brought the same intensity as she led off for a relay team that helped the Bombers beat SUNY-Geneseo on Nov. 21, something they hadn’t done in six years.

Michelle was a member of the women’s crew her freshman year, but after dealing with a knee injury, she decided to join the women’s swimming and diving team this year.

“I guess my heart’s always been in swimming, but I always supported [Sheila],” Michelle said.

Miller said having Sheila come to Ithaca College was unexpected because she did not recruit her, but Sheila and Michelle said they knew all along they were going to come to the college because their father, Bernie Rhoades, worked for Information Technology Services for 17 years.

“We’ve been coming up to the college since we were, like 5, and we’ve been on campus all of our lives, so it was just natural that we were going to come here,” Michelle said. “We didn’t even apply anywhere else.”

The twins grew up swimming together in the pool at their home in Dryden, N.Y., but it wasn’t until seventh grade that they started competing.

While this is Michelle’s first year on the women’s swimming and diving team, Miller said Michelle has always been a part of the team from being around so much.

“Michelle’s always been with Sheila hanging out, so the girls already know her, so it was an easy transition for her to come in.”

Miller said one thing Sheila has always been able to do is beat people with her speed, but her reaction time is something she struggled with.

“Her freshman year, she wasn’t good off the block for her 50,” Miller said. “She’d be the last one in the water, but after the turn she would catch everyone. She blows everybody away on her second half. One thing I noticed with her, and that’s why I always thought her 100 and 200 would be better, was that she didn’t have good reaction time,” Miller said. “And she, on that 50, was the first off the block [last weekend].”

Sheila said her approach on the block was something she focused on heavily before nationals last year, and eventually, it just clicked.

Along with having Michelle by her side this season, Sheila has also implemented a weight training program designed by men’s swimming Assistant Coach Mike Ariel ’09, which has helped Sheila improve this season.

She spends about five hours a week outside of the pool doing explosive lifts and rehab exercises that help her with mild shoulder injuries she has struggled with during her career.

“She wanted to maximize the amount that she was going to be able to get out of every practice she was doing, so I transformed a lot of the stuff she would be doing in the pool into stuff that would benefit her on land as well,” Ariel said. “This way, by her being able to do extra lifting and the weight training program instead of swimming extra yardage, she hasn’t had as many problems with her shoulders.”

By getting extra training out of the water, Ariel said Sheila has been able to avoid getting set back by sitting out like she did in previous years.

“The goal that we had was that she wouldn’t get set back,” Ariel said. “She would always be moving forward, always improving week by week and not having to take time away from training.”

Sheila said the training program has made all the difference in her performance this season.

“I’m going faster than I ever would have thought possible earlier in the season,” she said.

Miller said with everything Sheila has brought to the table throughout her career, she’s not looking forward to losing her.

“I’m enjoying every minute, and I dread the day she graduates,” she said.