Let's start with the age thing: Lukas Verzbicas was born on January 6, 1993.
On Saturday, a month short of his 17th birthday, the sophomore from Orland Hills, Illinois who emigrated with his parents from Lithuania when he was nine, became the youngest male champion in the 31-year history of the Footlocker National Cross-Country Championships, and the first sophomore to win the race. Racing on a wet and muddy course, Verzbicas' time of 15:07.8 gave him a 15-second victory over Matt McElroy, which was the largest margin of victory since 2002.
And he doesn't even consider running to be his main sport.
Verzbicas, who last year set national freshman indoor records for the mile (4:15.43) and 3,000m (8:29.15), really entered the collective consciousness of the running community when, as a freshman, he set a national high school record of 14:18 in the indoor 5000m at National Scholastic Indoor Championships last March at the Reggie Lewis Track.
After finishing 3rd in the 2M at the Nike Outdoor Championships last June, Verzbicas returned to his first love -- multi-event sports -- winning the junior men's duathlon world championship.
It's almost impossible not to speculate, not to look into the future for Verzbicas and wonder where he'll be in a year or two, but for now, his race in San Diego speaks for itself.
DyeStat Article on 2009 Footlocker Boys Championship Race
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6 comments:
i think his talent is ridiculous.
I think it will be interesting to see where he ends up in the next few years. In his interview, he talked about getting injured when he started focusing on running more and that a lot of his fitness came from being able to do "more workouts" in the pool and on the bike. One could see him as a runner who is talented enough that lots of specific running and mileage training is actually detrimental in the long run.
Most sophmores are 15, or just turning 16. Shouldn't he be a junior.
Seems unfair when athletes are older than their peers. It doesn't make a difference now but when he is a senior, it is an unfair advantage, as he will be 19.
He lost a year when his family immigrated. Even with a one year advantage, he is still ridiculously talented.
Kenny Cormier was 19 when he won Footlockers, according to letsrun.
I don't think the argument applies to luke's case cause he's already dusting away his oppoenents. If anything it's kind of hard on luke because at looklockers he had to hold back as not to embarass his opponents. So I think it's the other way around in that Luke shouldn't be racing high school athletes.
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