Lukas Verzbicas

[j41181]

This year's 5,000 meter cross-country High School National Champion!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-prep-boys-cc-verzbicasdec13,0,6758602.story

The women's race was even more exciting, for Megan Gothals and Chelsey Sveinsson both finished with identical race times with Gothals delcared the winner.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1027980

 

[white lightning]

Thanks for posting this my friend. It's always great to see young talent. We will have to keep an eye on this guy. American distance running is actually the best it's been in a couple of decades. We will be winning olympic medals in the future with the young talent out there currently.

 

[trackster]

Maybe our best days are ahead in track. It's hard not to be excited about Christophe LeMaitre, Brady Gehret, Johan Rogestedt, and Laura Roesler, but we shouldn't forget what a humdinger we have in Lukas V. For those of you who may have forgotten, he's the Lithuanian immigrant who trains for triathlons (where he is world class), but occasionally enters running events. He never trains exclusively for running and yet he set the h.s. record in the 2 mile and won the cross country national championships. Today, he entered his first track race of the year, and beat an elite field easily, running a 4:04 mile. Incredible! He's a high school sophomore.

 

[white lightning]

Nice find trackster. Hopefully he will continue to improve. I had high hopes for Allan Webb around 10 years ago and we know how that has went. I still root for him but it's been a rollercoaster ride. I will need to watch Lukas sometime. I wish he would just concentrate on track. He could become a household name if he goes far enough.

 

[trackster]

Sadly, the event, the Jim Ryun Dream Mile, was not covered on television, as it occurred just ten minutes before NBC picked up its coverage of the NY Diamond League Event. It's hard to get footage of Lukas, because this was his only track race of 2010. (I have to pause when I write that. Can you imagine, a teenager who trains for triathlon entering just one mile run and finishing in 4:04, beating the rest of the country's best milers by two seconds?) It is a huge hope of track fans on message boards everywhere that Lukas someday decides to focus solely on track. I'm sure not aware of any colleges that offer scholarships for triathletes...

Coaches say his destiny (if not triathlons) isn't the mile but the marathon. Sure would be nice to see a non-Kenyan superstar in that event.

As for Webb, he's not dead, but Achilles problems are brutal--a fact I have learned the hard way. If he could just come back and get two healthy back-to-back years, anything could happen.

 

[trackster]

Lukas has finally started his racing season this fall, with a typically masterful performance. As long as he doesn't switch to full-time triathloning, we're going to hear a lot about this boy:

http://yourseason.suntimes.com/othersports/2789410,1010-cross-country-northside-southside-challenge.article

Incidentally, for those of you who remember his story, and are curious, as a triathloner, Lukas is a very good runner. In the recent world triathlon championships, he was waaaay back following the swim and bike but then passed practically everyone on the run. He really needs to stop fooling around and become a full-time runner.

 

[trackster]

I don't want to jinx him, but Lukas will be running against elite adult pros tonight at an indoor mile in Boston. He's hoping to join Alan Webb as only the second high schooler to ever run sub 4 indoors. And Alan will be in the race to pull him along. Keep your fingers crossed!
<a href="http://%20www.letsrun.com/2011/lukas-0203.php" target="_blank">
http://www.letsrun.com/2011/lukas-0203.php</a>

 

[trackster]

Lukas annihilated the high school national record for the 5k indoor last night, knocking a ridiculous TWELVE SECONDS off the record that he himself set two years ago. Freaking WOW.

 

[trackster]

It wasn't enough that Lukas crushed the national HS record for the 5k on Friday. He came back the next day to win the national championship in the mile and 2 mile. Three national championships in one weekend for a distance runner. I believe that he singlehandedly won the team championship as well. Here's an article:
http://ny.milesplit.com/articles/62484

 

[trackster]

And here's a quick video showing on the one hand the 25 or so girls required to win the girl's team championship and on the other hand the one skinny red-haired kid required to win the national team championship for boys. This is quite likely a feat that will never be duplicated:
http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&amp;video_id=39310

FYI, Lukas will be training primarily for triathlon this spring as he wants to win a world championship in honor of his best friend, a triathlete who recently died. In the fall, Lukas will be skipping his senior year and heading to the U. of Oregon where, with the sort of training he'll get there, he could prove to be America's Kenyan-beater in the long distances.

 

[white lightning]

What a find he is. Amazing distance runner and a nice guy from what I've read about him. This kid is mature beyond his years and very driven. You can see the competetive drive that Lukas has! The sky is the limit for this kid. I look forward to see him running for the Oregon Ducks. Distance Running is on the up swing in the U.S. Now is we could only get someone in the sprints to join Wariner. I'm hoping that Jordan Boase can have a big summer.

 

[trackster]

Lukas did it!!!!! A week after breaking the national h.s. record in the two mile, Lukas broke the legendary 4:00 minute barrier in winning the h.s dream mile! I don't believe anyone has accomplished that in more than ten years.

He ran 3:59.71 in the cold and rain. Wow.

FYI, Second place went to phenomenal Austin Mudd (many of you probably remember his amazing three-race performance of a week ago).

Ah, I wish I'd paid to watch this instead of just watching the NCAAs on CBS. Hopefully, Universal will post the video soon.

 

[white lightning]

This guy isa phenom Simply incredible. He will make us forget all about Allan Webb. We might have to post some more pics of this future olympic medalist!