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Twin brothers Bryar and Jalen Long have some pretty solid bloodlines when it comes to athletics.

Their mother, Tracy, was an 18-time All-America swimmer at the University of Tennessee 1986-90 and NCAA runner-up in the 100-meter breaststroke in 1989.

Their father, Aric, was an SEC and NCAA decathlon champion during his career at UT 1988-93.

When it comes to sports, however, there is a bottom line in the Long household, which consists of the parents and 10-year-old twins.

"We want them to be happy," Tracy said before Bryar's first race Sunday in the Pilot January Classic at the UT Students Aquatics Center. "If this is what Bryar decides to do in swimming, that's what he can do."

Bryar has excelled as a swimmer since making the decision last March to work out year-round with the Pilot Aquatic Club. In August, he won the 100 breaststroke for 10-year-olds at the AAU Junior Olympics at UT and two months ago won the 100- and 50-meter breaststroke at the Nike Music City Invitational in Nashville.

The Long parents limit Bryar to three or four swimming workouts per week because he still plays league basketball. He also played football in the fall, but last summer decided not to play baseball for the first time in a couple of years.

Jalen, meanwhile, plays basketball and soccer and swims in the summer.

And the twins don't forget the bottom line.

"You're racing the clock and nobody else," Bryar said. "Just go out and have fun. If you're not having fun, don't do it."

They were certainly bred to be athletes.

Tracy Ignatosky Long came to UT on a swimming scholarship from Redding, Pa., and was SEC champion in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in 1989. She was fourth in the 1988 Olympic Trials and was among the first class of inductees in the UT Women's Athletics Hall of Fame.

Aric Long joined the Vols' track team from East Liverpool, Ohio, and won SEC indoor and outdoor titles and competed for the United States in the 1992 Olympics.

Tracy knows the twins should have some athletic abilities. "They have a genetic pool for athletics," she said.

That doesn't mean they'll be pushed too hard by she and Aric.

"I think we just have the philosophy and were brought up with the philosophy to have fun and love whatever you do," Tracy said. "If you're not having fun, maybe that's not what you should be doing. We just want our boys to be happy in whatever they're doing."

There is some friendly competition between the twins, but when it comes to sports, they're each other's biggest fans.

"We're real close," Bryar said. "I'm always there to support him. He's always there to support me."

Bryar's long-term swimming goal is to swim for UT, and his parents will support him while enforcing the bottom line.

"If he comes to us one day and that's not where his love is, we're OK with that," Tracy said. "We want him to do what he wants to do."

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.