Minot High swimming and diving coach Emily Jensen said that if one didn’t know Sam and Sophia’s last name, they would never guess the two were related. Sam – technically the older sister – is a drum major in the school band, and also plays the trumpet and enjoys pottery. Sophia is in the National Honor Society, is part of student council, was part of the HOSA-Future Health Professionals and used to dance and play softball. She also enjoys getting out of the house as much as possible, hanging out with friends and making TikTok videos.

Even their rooms’ decor share very little commonality. Sophia’s room is full of pink, gold and white, while Sam’s resembles the colors of the water she’s spent so much time swimming in, decked out in shades of blue and green.

They may be opposites on land, but the water is what does – and always has – attracted them together. And while they may have their occasional squabbles like all siblings have, they genuinely root for the success of one another and are each other’s biggest fan.

“Sophia is very gracious,” Sam said. “She understands this is something that I like and I think she is very happy for me when I win. She’s a great swimmer too and she knows it. She works hard and does everything in her power to cut time. There’s definitely things she’s a lot better at than me and we know it. We consider it an even playing field, but she’s just very respectful and gracious when I have success.”

Nathan Beitler/MDN Twin sisters Sam VonBokern (left) and Sophia VonBokern (right) have been swimming since they were 4 years old and will compete in their final WDA Championship meet this weekend in Mandan.

Sam and Sophia have always had a love for the water. They began swimming lessons at the age of 4 under the guidance of Patrice Mitchell, a local legendary swimming instructor with more than 50 years of experience teaching boys and girls at Jim Hill Middle School. A year later, they were swimming competitively and have been competing almost year round ever since.

“Before we even started swimming lessons, we were little fish in the water,” Sophia said. “We loved the water – water parks, pools – we were very attracted to the water, so we were put into lessons and ever since then we’ve loved it. For me, I just love that there’s that team aspect of it and solo part of it. You can grow by yourself, but also there is that team aspect of it.”

Both Sam and Sophia joined the varsity team as seventh graders. At the time, the Minot High program was separate from the middle school program and an athlete had to be asked by the coaching staff to be moved up unless they were joining the team as a diver. When Sam was approached by Jensen about joining the team, Sophia was thinking about exploring other avenues outside of swimming. Instead, she elected to join the team as a diver, and even though she didn’t necessarily love her time competing in the event, seeing Sam and the rest of the team working hard trying to improve further motivated her to stick with the sport.

Fast forward six years and both are now senior captains about to swim in their final West Region Championship meet, set to take place over two days beginning on Friday, Nov. 7, at the Mandan Aquatic Center. Friday will feature the diving preliminary rounds, while Saturday is the main event, with all the individual events and relays taking place, along with the diving finals.

Sam has had the more decorated career during her time at Minot High, racking up WDA titles. Since her freshman year, Sam is a two-time WDA champion in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, winning the events as a freshman and sophomore. She is the reigning champion in the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle. She has also been part of championship relays in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle. The Majettes have won the WDA Championship three out of the last four years.

“She’s always swam with incredible confidence in herself,” Jensen said. “Her work ethic is incredible and has been since she was very young. She’s very driven in all aspects of her life. She’s got that quiet confidence that keeps her going and her internal drive to succeed. She puts in a lot of work in the offseason. She does a lot of dry land. She does a lot of club swimming. They do a lot of traveling when high school swimming isn’t going on. She does a lot of work. She went to Bismarck this summer and trained with a Bismarck team and traveled with them. She’s been to camps in Florida.”

Sam is a four-time All-WDA and three-time all-state selection. She won the state title in the 500 freestyle as a freshman, helping Minot High to a second-place finish.

“Her freshman year, she was still a little naive to the capacity of talent she had and there’s something to be said about that,” Jensen said. “When the pressure’s on, it is really hard to win a state title. You have to be at your best effort on that day against people who are also vying for that same goal you are. There’s something to be said about mental toughness and she’s come a long way in a year. She’s a little bit hungry for seeing that success at an event and at a state championship meet. She’s so versatile, but to get another championship would be her ultimate goal.”

Winning the state title in the 500 freestyle was one of Sam’s favorite memories, but not for the reason most people would think. It wasn’t because it was the day she would forever be able to call herself a state champion, but rather because it was Sophia that was right there beside her counting her laps in her lane and giving her the encouragement she needed to push through to the end.

Sam said her two favorite events to compete in are the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle.

When it comes to the state tournament, Sam will have the pick of the litter in terms of what two individual events she competes in, having hit qualifying times for all eight of the individual swimming events. She owns the fastest qualifying time in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 IM.

“It really depends on what the team has needed in the past and where they need to put me to get our clubs a shot at winning at state,” Sam said. “This year because I’m a senior, I kind of get to choose which of those events I get to swim more. Most seniors on the team get to choose what they would like. Obviously, we’re competing for that first spot and we don’t have as many swimmers as Century does, so there is a little persuasion from coach Jensen, but I get to choose. But I’ve told coach Jensen in the past to just put me in whatever event you need me in. If there’s something I really want to swim she’ll hear about it and there’s a good chance it will be an event that will help our team.”

Sam competed in the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly at state last year. She finished third in the 200 behind Fargo Shanley’s Arianna Hoff and West Fargo Sheyenne’s Lauren McDonagh, and second in the butterfly behind Williston’s Dru Zander.

Sophia could be jealous of her twin sister’s accomplishments and wish it was her that was standing on the podium year after year, meet after meet, but that’s not her personality. It’s what makes her the perfect team captain in Jensen’s eyes.

“She is just the epitome of what a hard-working kid would be on a team,” Jensen said. “She’s an incredible captain. She is always thinking of others and wanting to make sure that everyone feels included and has a heart of gold. She definitely is the little heartbeat of our team. She swims incredibly lights out on relays and she doesn’t always give herself that confidence and that drive in her individual events and we all know she can do that. We’ve seen her do it time and time again on relays. She would never want to disappoint her teammates or her coaches and we look for that in all our athletes, but I hope she finds that confidence in herself that we all know she has for her individual events as well.”

Sophia loves every moment she gets to spend with her teammates, which is why one of her favorite moments doesn’t involve being in the pool at all. It was during her freshman year right before state. An impending snow storm forced the Majettes to head to Fargo two days early, so she got to spend two full days surrounded by teammates in a Fargo hotel while essentially living in a snowglobe prior to the state tournament.

Sophia may not have the same accomplishments with the Majettes as Sam, but that doesn’t mean that she’s just along for the ride. Sophia plays a major role on the 200 relay with Emily Dunstan, Hailee Valdez and her twin sister. Sophia serves as the second leg, while Sam is the anchor.

“I’m a relay swimmer for sure,” Sophia said. “Sam loves relays too and seeing how excited she gets makes me want to work as hard as I possibly can. Everyone knows her as the person to catch all of us up if we fall behind. From my perspective, I want to go out there and stay up there with the other relays so she doesn’t have to do that and she can be a star and push way ahead. I love the fact that there is that team part where I can be with her and we can be together.”

Swimming also provides Sophia an outlet for the stress that comes from being a teenager in high school. It allows her a couple hours every day to clear her mind and escape the hardships, even if it’s only temporary.

“It’s a great way for me in that if I have a bad day I can get in the pool, work hard and I’ll feel better. It’s very rewarding,” Sophia said. “Even when your times aren’t what you want them to be at practice, I’m working as hard as I can. Swimming is so rewarding in every way possible so I feel like it is very calming.”

Sam and Sophia’s high school swimming careers are down to their final two weekends before heading off to college, unsurprisingly taking different paths. Sophia plans to enroll at the University of North Dakota to become a nurse. Sam isn’t done swimming just yet. She has committed to Division I Nebraska-Omaha to join its swimming and diving program in the fall.

Jensen will miss their presence not just in the pool but on dry land as well. To her, the VonBokern sisters have served as more than just athletes on her swimming and diving team. They have become in some ways part of her family.

“I had them when they were really little in club swimming and remember them coming on the pool deck when they were seven and eight years old,” Jensen said. “Having them be part of a program and they teach swim lessons in the offseason and Sophia babysits for me all the time. These kids become a part of your family essentially and you hope for the best for them and ultimately you hope they stay safe and make good choices and look back on their high school years and their time with the team as memorable and important and positive and something that’s taught them more than just swimming.”