SOUTH BEND — Valentino Summers was at the dentist getting his retainers worked on when he was told he had qualified for the 2026 IHSAA boys track and field state finals.
When he saw the text from South Bend Riley head coach Karl Columbus with the news, he jumped out of the chair.
“I was like, ‘Mom, I’m going to state!’ She was like, ‘What?!’ I was like, ‘I’m going to state!’ And then the dentist got to laughing,” Summers said. “… It’s been a dream. I’ve been working a lot these last two years.”
He may not have finished in the top three at the Warsaw regional in high jump, but Summers met the state standard at 6-03 feet and is one of 33 athletes from across Indiana who will compete for a state championship in the event Saturday, June 6 at North Central High School in Indianapolis.
The day before at the same location, he’ll watch his twin sister, Tinayja, vie for an IHSAA girls track and field state title in the long jump.
The Summers’ twins, who are juniors for the Wildcats, are one of three sets of twins from the South Bend Tribune coverage area who qualified for the 2026 track and field state finals. They join Baylor and Xavier Miller from Northridge and Alonzo and Alfonzo Newbern from Elkhart, being the only boy/girl duo.
Valentino may be two minutes older, but Tinayja was the first to qualify for the state finals, doing so last season in the long jump as well. Although her seed distance of 17-01.5 feet is a few inches short of her 17-07.75 mark as a sophomore at Mishawaka, Tinayja’s mindset is improved this time around thanks to being joined by her twin in the state capital.
“I was happy because I did not want to go by myself,” Tinayja said. “… They were texting in the family group chat like, ‘All of our kids are going to state.’ They were just yelling and buying snacks.”
Even Columbus is a twin, just six minutes younger than his sister Karla. He said his experience has helped him know the best ways to coach the Summers twins, oftentimes allowing them to coach each other. It’s sometimes best to just “let twins be twins,” Columbus noted.
He has seen that pay dividends when Tinayja and Valentino’s contrasting personalities balance each other out, with the bubbly Tinayja making Valentino laugh when he might be taking a result too seriously or vice versa.
Tinayja admitted that she can get in her head easily, whether it’s about track, basketball or anything outside of athletics. Most people, however, would never know it.
“Every time I’m sad, I laugh it off; when I’m nervous, I laugh,” Tinayja said. “I just laugh at everything. If you ever see me upset, I’m really upset. I’m a giggly, jolly person. Unless [Valentino] makes me mad. He really knows how to push my buttons.”
Tinayja then looked to her left and smiled at her brother. Valentino took that as his cue to do what Tinayja said he’s best at — pushing her buttons.
“If I see her grades looking good, I’m going to make mine better,” Valentino said.
That inspired a quick response from his sister.
“I motivate him to do his chores, because I do my chores and he doesn’t do his,” Tinayja said as Valentino gave her a side eye.
At the core of their bickering is inspiration. It’s clear the twins share an extremely close bond and a great deal of admiration for one another — and not just because Tinayja and Valentino were wearing Wildcat-branded T-shirts that had “Family Over Everything” written across the front.
Valentino didn’t shy away from what competing on track and field’s biggest stage alongside his twin means to him, being both proud of Tinayja for making her second trip to the state finals in a row while also having dedicated the past 12 months of his life to making sure he would join her this time after not being able to do so last season.
“I’ve always wondered what it was like,” Valentino said. “She motivates me a lot. The family always talks about how great she is, and they hear things about her, but they’ve never really heard about me until last year.
“I wasn’t always gifted. This year, it’s all starting to come into the bigger picture. I was scared about making it this year and being with my sister because I have a torn meniscus right now and I jump off that leg. It’s painful to jump, but I made it and I’m proud.”
Tinayja and Valentino look to top their PRs of 17-11 and 6-04 feet, respectively, Friday and Saturday. Both of them realize winning a state championship this season will be incredibly difficult, and while they’re not satisfied by simply making it to the state finals, they realize how much of an accomplishment that is alone.
Doing it together, for now, is the ultimate prize.
“It takes a lot to go to state; not everybody makes it that far,” Tinayja said. “My goal, first of all, was to make it there. When I go, my goal is just to push as hard as I can because I know that’s where all the competition is.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Tinayja and Valentino Summers motivate each other before state finals
Reporting by Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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By Kyle Smedley, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
