"We're hoping to win our region," Emma said. "I think we'll be pretty good."
Behind the two of them, seventh-grader Nikki Coffey and freshman Lena Sinclair-Hutchins have been the team's No. 3 and 4 runners, and they said they need only one more consistent runner to start scoring well consistently.
"We're kind of needing a fifth girl," Rachel said.
The two girls said transportation issues were behind the decision they and their family made to enroll them at Boyle.
"We've always lived in Boyle County, and we were driving to Lexington Christian, so it was a really long drive every day, and we just really thought it would be nice to be closer to home," Emma said.
Rachel said being close to home is even more important now that she's the one doing the driving.
"I just started driving, so my parents didn't want me driving up there every day," she said.
They became eligible only about three weeks ago and only after a successful appeal to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association — their residence hadn't changed — and they were afraid they were going to miss Boyle's first race.
"We were going to miss the first meet, and the meet got canceled. We were able to run in the first meet, so that was good," Rachel said.
The girls ran for LCA for two years after transferring to that school from Danville Christian, where their interest in cross country ignited.
"I ran the Constitution Square 5K when I was in middle school. I liked it, and so I was just like, 'I should start running,'" Rachel said. "Then they started (the) cross country team at DCA and I liked doing that."
Of course, her little sister wasn't far behind her.
"When she started running, I was like, 'Maybe I want to try this, too.' Then we just kept on going," Emma said.
"It's easier for us both to do the same thing, I guess," Rachel added.
Both sisters ran track for LCA and plan to do so at Boyle, and they also have also competed in many of the local road races, but they said cross country is their favorite sport.
"I'm better at long distance, and I don't like just running in circles around the track as much as just being out there," Emma said.
Rachel said cross country meets are also a little easier because they take less time.
"I like cross country meets better than track meets because track meets tend to last a really long time," she said.
Cross country has become a family activity for the Dittos, as a third sibling, fourth-grader Andrew, runs for DCA. As for the two sisters, their order of finish began to change at about the middle of last season, with Emma beginning to take the lead within the family.
Last year, the two were separated by just two seconds at their Class A regional meet, where Emma was fourth and Rachel was fifth, and by nine seconds at the state meet, where Emma was 21st and Rachel was 23rd in the Class A girls race. The year before, Rachel had beaten her younger sister by 16 seconds at the state meet.
"This season, it's been her. Last season, she was creeping up on me," Rachel said. "My goal is to be with her, so I'm working on it."
"And my goal is to never let her beat me," Emma countered. "My goal used to always be to stay with her; now her goal is to stay with me."
