North Shore 5th Graders Shatter World Record for Twins

Highcrest Middle School is seeing double. The Wilmette school announced this week that it had broken the Guiness World Record for Most Twins in a Single Grade, with 23 sets of twins. Approximately 10 percent of the 5th grade class can claim the record as a twin. The previous record was 16 sets of twins.

Luke and Ryan Novosel, dedicated readers of the Guinness Book, discovered that they could break the record when reading the book one night.

Stay up to date on all fun North Shore news by signing up for our free newsletter, liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.

"The boys were reading one Sunday night and started discussing the many sets of twins right in our neighborhood," Mike Novosel, Luke and Ryan's dad, said. "My wife and I figured by the time they arrived at New Trier in a few years they could break the record.  There were shrieks of excitement when Luke and Ryan discovered Highcrest actually broke the record with their current class."

A press release from Highcrest says that the boom in 2002 could be due to several factors, including post-9-11 couples wanting to start families and the advancement of fertility treatments.

"I remember Luke and Ryan being in the hospital after their severely premature birth at 26 weeks and having them doubled up in an incubator," Nancy Fendley, Luke and Ryan's Mom, said in the release. "This was unprecedented for Northwestern, but necessary to accommodate the immense number of babies born in 2002, many of them twins and born prematurely.  It's no surprise, but certainly an awesome delight for these kids to break a record at such a young age!"

Are you a twin? Share your memories of what it was like growing up with a twin in the comment section below!