The runners gather around each other as the race approaches, sprawled out on the grass infield or kicking out their muscular legs over invisible hurdles on the track apron.

Three athletes instantly stand out from the crowd of stretching limbs and clinging Spandex, but not because of their differences.

All three wear gray T-shirts and green warm-up pants. All three have shaved heads, round faces and clever eyes. All three run the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles for Sacramento State.

Same bodies, same faces, same ages, same events, same team. Like a cloning experiment gone right, sophomore hurdlers and identical triplets Nick, Jeff and Chris Santana form a medals stand worth of Sac State track talent.

With all their similarities though, Hornets track coach Joe Neff still advocates that each of the three triplets remains their own person.

“They have three different personalities, three different looks,” Neff said. “They’re three different human beings.”

Of course, it would be easy to treat the Santana triplets as one entity instead of three separate personalities — their parents even color-coded them as children to tell the brothers apart.

“Everyone looks at us as the Santanas, but we’re used to that,” said Jeff, the most levelheaded of the three.

“It doesn’t even bother us anymore,” said Chris, the most outspoken Santana brother. “We’re nice about it by now.”

Something else is identical about the hurdling brothers besides their physical appearances — with their similar physiques and pre-game approaches to their races, the Santana triplets have an uncanny knack for finishing their races right around the same time.

In the 400-meter intermediate hurdles final at last weekend’s Bruce Drummond Invitational, Nick, Chris and Jeff crossed the finish line within 0.99 seconds of each other, placing second, third, and fourth in the event, respectively. The next three racers were separated from the Santana brothers by nearly five seconds.

Nick, the quietest brother, placed best in the brothers’ other event, the 110-meter high hurdles, finishing third overall with a time of 15.09. Chris (15.38) and Jeff (15.43) placed seventh and ninth overall.

“They’re all pretty diverse in their abilities, and we try to teach them as individuals,” Neff said.

There is evidence to back up Neff’s claim — only Nick qualified for the team’s last indoor meet, and all three brothers have different favorite events.

Nick likes the 110-meter race because the shorter distance makes him feel faster.

Jeff prefers the 400-meter intermediate hurdles because of the smaller jumps, while Chris likes both events equally.

“It always fluctuates as to which one of us is running better,” Nick said. “Someone’s on, someone’s off.”

Chris insists there is a much more significant difference between the brothers.

“I’m smarter and look better,” he said, grinning broadly.

On the track, the relationship between the brothers is as constructive as it is competitive.

“We critique each other’s races, coach each other, cheer each other on,” Jeff said.

The brothers were recruited for the team as ninth graders at Benicia High School.

“The coach saw us running around at P.E., and he asked us to go out for track,” Nick said.

Although the Santana triplets participate in only two events, they competed in nearly every track and field event in high school. “We were the whole team at Benicia,” Chris said.

When the Santanas graduated from Benicia High, they consciously sought out a school that would accept all three and found one in Sacramento State.

“We recruited them out of high school because they were good athletes,” Neff said. “We were lucky enough to get all three.”

Jeff, Nick and Chris live together off-campus in a three-bedroom house, where they retire to lift weights, relax and listen to hip-hop and R&B after school and the daily three hours of practice are over. Although the house isn’t much, it’s a significant step up from their childhood living quarters — the triplets shared the same room until they were 13.

The Santana trio see themselves heading off in their own directions after college graduation — Chris is a kinseology major, while Jeff and Nick study business and take a couple of classes together.

Even when they’re eventually separated, one crucial element of any sibling relationship is certain to remain — competition. When asked which brother runs fastest, Nick, Chris and Jeff Santana each raise a finger and smile.

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