Silver Twins with a twist

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Purdue's All-American Marching Band is part of the university's tradition. Some important members are putting a twist on tradition this year.

The 2012 Silver Twins are freshmen Jordan Foster and Alyssa Lyzen. One important thing makes them different from past Silver Twins. They aren't twins.

"Twirling in college has always been the main goal," Foster said. "It's the end destination of my baton twirling career. I actually became interested in Purdue because of the twirling."

"I started twirling because of my mother, and my mother started twirling because of the Silver Twins," Lyzen said.

Traditionally, the spot has been set aside for identical twins. However, this year, no twins auditioned. Band director, Jay Gephart, thought there would be no Silver Twins this year.

"This year, when no twins stepped forward to audition, we thought we'd be without Silver Twins," Gephart said. "We decided we were going to the girls who finished next in the solo auditions, and offer them the opportunity to come back as Sliver Twins."

Gephart said the band used look-alikes before. The last time was about 10 years ago.

Foster and Lyzen said they hope to be different than any twirlers Purdue has seen.

"We are hoping to be the first Silver Twins who really do multiple baton twirls," Foster said. "We have been practicing a lot of two baton and three baton tricks with some exchanges. It sometimes gets a little crazy because six batons are flying around. We really want to show people that even though we aren't twins, we can still fill the spot of the future twirlers."

"We're known as the cradle for twirlers, like Purdue is the cradle of quarterbacks," Gephart said.

Right now Lyzen and Foster are tackling routines, but come Monday, they'll be tackling their first day of college.