***OFFICIAL LUKAS IS LEAVING***

Yeah, how does an 18 yrs old dare to change his mind! He is over 6 years old, when its time to grow up and pick a profession. And abandon team???? If we were a country of individualists like Japan, that would make sense, but here in the US we are all about team, team, keep quiet and line up.

America hasn't been close to dominating, let alone winning tri's in a few years.

He said he was heading to testing at the end of one of his interviews on FloTrack after that race. Interviewer asked him something like, "What's next?" and LV replied that he was getting tested. That wasn't what the question was asking, but he said it so he was thinking about it. I tried to find it but didn't feel like sitting through all the videos.

problem with america wrote:

douglas burke wrote:

maybe he got discouraged 62nd in his first college race, then 23rd in a smaller race, after being hands down the top runner at the high school level.

even before he chose college he said he was unsure as he saw all the africans winning the running races, and he himself said his prospects in the triathlon seemed much better post college.

.

This is the problem with America, he is choosing the easier more "successful" route. That is like choosing to be the best in the CFL rather than be a role player in the NFL.

What is going to happen when some other (non-American) country starts dominating Tri's, are we then going to invent another sport that we can win for a while.

For those of you who think triathlon is easy or that the fields are weak should try it! It is NOT easy to train and peak for three sports.

Also, given his father's coaching and new position at the elite academy, Lukas's accomplishments in the sport, and the sad (but true) fact that he will likely make more money in triathlon, the decision to go to UO in the first place was the more surprising move.

Who are any of us to judge him? We should just step back and watch in awe as he excels at whatever he does.

Phil Hersh - Lukas V you are no Alan Webb, oh wait.

How about some criticism from not sticking out the season.

Did NOBODY sit down with LV and say "look son, almost nobody runs well his freshman year of college. you're adjusting to a new program, a new lifestyle, and all that, and if you don't get a serious injury or get significantly worse this year, you'll be ahead of half your peers."?

Name almost any top recruit coming in, and they'll have some rough patches as a freshman. Exceptions like Ritz and Kennedy are just that—exceptions. We all know how German's first cross country season went, 4:01 guy Finnerty got mono and missed most of his first year, other guys end up injured/sick/whatever.

Easy wrote:

The ITU races are draft legal wich means that if you can hang with the leaders in the swim then sit in and draft on the bike it comes down to a 10k race,. With LV's running talent he should do well in these events including the olympics

The one comment on this thread that shows knowledge of triathlon. It is amazing how we love to talk about things we know nothing about.

What a dick move and very selfish. He could have at least finished the season out of respect to his fellow team members.

LV's move is reflective of a greater movement among today's youth in athletics in general. They are taught to think about themselves first, team a distant second. This is ingrained by their parents from an early age and is a hard habit to break. You can aruge whether this is a good thing, but as a teacher and coach I have witnessed first hand this trend over the decades. I believe it is worse in a sport like distance running (XC, Track, Triathlon), than say for example basketball, which I also coach, because distance running is inherently an individualistic endeavor.

I don't blame LV for what I would consider a poor decision (a better one would have been to have finished out the season, then transferred), but his parents. Obviously, the kid was out of his comfort level and his paretns were first in line to say "it's alright honey! come back to us, it will all be fine!" Again, for more and more people today, this is the appropriate parental response. I would say that is different than years ago.

That said, I will still route for the kid in triathlons. If he can come out the swim near the leaders, he can draft the bike, which has been mentioned, in ITU competitions, and crush the run, his specialty. But I also believe once he commits full time to triathlon training, he will never be able to switch back to elite distance running (if for some reason he has yet another change of heart). The requisite cycle training needed to go with these elite guys, even drafting, is immense and will change his physiology so that it is specifically tailored to triathlons. Will be able to run a 29 flat 10k, probably. But 27 low will never again be in the equation.

My two cents.

Meh. He's a kid. He's away from home for the first time. How many of us only made good decisions when we were teenagers? Whether the mistake was choosing to run in college or choosing to leave Oregon, it doesn't really matter. He's a kid, and he doesn't owe us anything.

LV's talent comes no where near Ritz or German Fernandez or any other HS kid that's ran sub 8:50. Yeah, He was 2x Footlocker champ and ran 8:29 at a pro meet but he's been micromanaged to a T, probably since he was born. He trained like 4 times a day and his mother and step-father did everything for him. He probably never did what other HS kids do like drink at weekends and smoke joints. College training was a step down for him and then when he starts getting his ass kicked by Lutz and Moussa, his massive ego can't take it so he quits. Please, that's pathetic. German and Ritz lived normal HS lives and trained like normal HS runners and could still set HS records and win Footlocker champs. Face it people, LV ain't as good as y'all think.[/quote]

Agree, 100%[/quote]

This is spot on, I have been saying this for awhile now. LV is not as talented as GF or the other HS phenoms. No one seems to take into account his triathlon training..... His massive aerobic base which made all this possible. He would never have ran that fast with out swimming and biking. He was like 2-3 years (aerobically) ahead of "JUST" runners. Running takes time to build that aerobic base, you cannot rush it, it is to hard on your body. I thought he would have a hard time going to college "just running" as his main training. He was able to keep building his aerobic engine through other types of training, whereas if he were just using running as his training....would not have been possible

Word. I hated my first semester freshman year. But I stuck it out and track was much better. Then again I sucked and wasn't good in another sport.

I dreamed of going to Oregon to run, got in and talked to Powell, but it was gonna cost me 30k so went the D2 scholarship route and have regretted it ever since. Lukas you're a punk bitch and spit in the face of the life I wish I had

LV's talent comes no where near Ritz or German Fernandez or any other HS kid that's ran sub 8:50. Yeah, He was 2x Footlocker champ and ran 8:29 at a pro meet but he's been micromanaged to a T, probably since he was born. He trained like 4 times a day and his mother and step-father did everything for him. He probably never did what other HS kids do like drink at weekends and smoke joints. College training was a step down for him and then when he starts getting his ass kicked by Lutz and Moussa, his massive ego can't take it so he quits. Please, that's pathetic. German and Ritz lived normal HS lives and trained like normal HS runners and could still set HS records and win Footlocker champs. Face it people, LV ain't as good as y'all think.

Smoking joints and drinking? I don't know what your messed up definition of "normal" is but you sound like a real loser.

For people saying it's the "easy" and "successful" route, that's not always the case. The American team gets at most 3 spots for triathlon, which is determined by how Americans have placed this year on the ITU circuit. Regardless if there is less participation in triathlon, it's still incredibly tough to snag one of those slots.

And Americans haven't dominated the Olympics in Triathlon. Our only medalist was Susan Williams who got bronze in 2004. In fact, even in Kona there hasn't been a American winner since Tim Deboom in 2002. He's accepting a challenge that will be just as tough as cross country for him. Good luck to Lukas, hopefully he'll be able to medal for USA in whichever sport he ends up competing in.

Dgmifx wrote:

[quote]

Smoking joints and drinking? I don't know what your messed up definition of "normal" is but you sound like a real loser.

And you sound dense.

Put your puritan, Palin like value system aside for a second and reread the post to hopefully grasp his point.

Spice girls wrote:

This is spot on, I have been saying this for awhile now. LV is not as talented as GF or the other HS phenoms. No one seems to take into account his triathlon training..... His massive aerobic base which made all this possible. He would never have ran that fast with out swimming and biking. He was like 2-3 years (aerobically) ahead of "JUST" runners. Running takes time to build that aerobic base, you cannot rush it, it is to hard on your body. I thought he would have a hard time going to college "just running" as his main training. He was able to keep building his aerobic engine through other types of training, whereas if he were just using running as his training....would not have been possible

If swimming and biking are the only reason he is any good, then why don't other runners train the way LV does. They they too can set a 2mile HSR.

Please think before you write.

While my initial thoughts were "how could Lucas quit with 2 meets left?", it could very likley be that Vin is not allowing LV to finish the season.

LV likely started talking to Vin recently about his feelings and Vin decided why to waste the expereince of running a NCAA regional meet and championships on a kid who is not going to be around in the future....nor his heart being into his team.