Twins. Potential valedictorian and salutatorian. Reigning state doubles champions. What else is there left to do? According to Jordyn and Jayden Jankiewicz, twin sisters at Irwin County High School, it’s simple: Keep studying, and keep winning state titles.
Jordyn and Jayden are 16-year-old juniors who have always been excellent students. The daughters of a teacher, both knew from an early age what was expected of them in the classroom.
“We knew we had to do our best, and our parents had high expectations for us,” Jordyn said.
The twins are especially adept at math and love the problem solving aspect of the subject.
“In English, there are a lot of abstract ideas and lots of ways to interpret what you read. In math, there’s one formula and one solution,” Jordyn said. “I like that.”
The difficulty of math adds to its allure.
“I like the satisfaction of solving a difficult problem,” Jayden said.
Both plan to attend Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton for two years. Afterwards, Jayden would like to enroll at the University of Georgia and study nutrition or something related to exercise. Jordyn hopes to transfer to Georgia Tech and study aerospace engineering.
“I first thought about mechanical engineering, but I want to do something more extraordinary,” she said.
Speaking of such, the twins’ tennis career has been extraordinary in its own right. Neither had played a minute of tennis until their freshman year. Jayden cheered and Jordyn played softball, so the two were fit and active. But they weren’t tennis players. The girls’ team that year was in danger of not having enough for a full squad. The coach asked Jordyn and Jayden to play. They thought about it and decided to give it a shot.
It turned out to be a fantastic decision. Despite their inexperience, Jordyn and Jayden became a formidable doubles team.
“We went to Wal-Mart and bought racquets,” Jordyn said. “We never had a lesson. We just picked up the game by watching others.”
Their strategy was simple: Keep the ball in play, don’t make mistakes, and try to out-think their opponents. The team that almost didn’t even have enough girls to play ended up in the state tournament. Then they just kept winning.
“It was a like a dream,” Jayden said. Irwin County went all the way to the state finals, but they came up short. 
Runner-up in the state isn’t bad, but everyone, twins included, wanted more.
Last year, Irwin picked up where it left off the season before. The Indians rolled through the regular season and again made the state tournament. Once more, they advanced to the state finals. In the championship match, the twins were the first ones to finish. They won their match 6-0, 6-3. The top two singles players came up short, which put Irwin behind the eight ball for the remainder of the contest.
With the number-three singles player, Summer Pridgen, and the number-two doubles team still on the court, Irwin needed to win both matches. The doubles team was in trouble early but ended up pulling out the win. That left Pridgen. She played a solid, consistent match and came away with the victory, which gave the Indians a state championship. The twins both teared up and couldn’t believe what had happened.
“It was Irwin’s first ever tennis title,” Jordyn said. “It still hasn’t sunk in.”
At the time of this interview, the 2015 tennis season was just getting underway. The Indians lost only one senior, Summer Pridgen. Other than that, they are the same team from last year. The entire girls’ team is undefeated, and the Indians are on pace to repeat again as state champions.
“We went as far as we could go last year,” Jordyn said. “We’re going to see how far we can go this year.”
Academic Athlete/South Georgia/May 2015
Jordyn and Jayden Jankiewicz
Irwin County High School
Ocilla, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.
Twins ranked #1, #2 in class and are a state champion doubles team
