NEW YORK ??? There will come a time when Lukas Verzbicas will have to put what he did in perspective. One day he???ll have to take stock of his performance and see that he laid the foundation for what legend is built on.
5K was US#4 all time (Simmons, Spencer, Gorze), Junior Class #2 all time. And it was fairly tactical. He closed his last K in 2:33.
2 Mile was US#3 this year, Junior Class #7 all time. Also tactical. Last 800 1:59. Last 1600 4:13.
DMR was 6 seconds under previous national record. Believe it's #3 all time including outdoors
Mile was Junior Class record, #4 Junior including Outdoors (Burns, Birnbaum, Nauman). Somewhat tactical again, Closes in 56.4, and honestly probably breaks 4 if he doesn't take two gigantic looks back in the last lap.
This kid could probably go 13:30, 8:30, 3:55(maybe) in the next 16 months if the stars align
This post was edited 9 minutes after it was posted.
Riley Smith two years ago went 4:02, 4:10, and 4:06 to come second in DMR, win 4xMile, and win the Mile at NIN. Only lost DMR to Kitchen/Tostenson Crater
That was insane at the time, and Mantecon's performance is much more impressive IMO.
Amazing 4 day span with ridiculous finishes for a HS junior.
These are his closing splits:
5000m - 2:00.5 last 800m, 57.2 last 400m
2mi- 1:59 last 800m, 57.6 last 400m
mile - 1:57.4 last 800m, 56.4 last 400m
These are definitely important to note. Dominating with 2 more gears than the other kids. I think in totality these indicate the fitness to go pretty high on the all-time U.S. high school lists already.
This kid has been a prodigy since middle school, but this weekend he broke out in a big way. We’ll be talking about him for a long time, I think.
Amazing 4 day span with ridiculous finishes for a HS junior.
These are his closing splits:
5000m - 2:00.5 last 800m, 57.2 last 400m
2mi- 1:59 last 800m, 57.6 last 400m
mile - 1:57.4 last 800m, 56.4 last 400m
These are definitely important to note. Dominating with 2 more gears than the other kids. I think in totality these indicate the fitness to go pretty high on the all-time U.S. high school lists already.
This kid has been a prodigy since middle school, but this weekend he broke out in a big way. We’ll be talking about him for a long time, I think.
The DMR split meanwhile was a difficult positive split 57.9/59.8/63.2/62.5 for that 4:04.73.
Those other three races—in each, he has a massive gear shift at about 400-350 to go, just. a huge surge to take the lead, and then has the strength to go again if another super talent like Hassan sticks on him. 13:30, 8:30, 3:56, 1:47.5 all within reach and I wonder what type of altitude training he does and if he responds... NAU would be excellent
As a 10th grader at NIN last year, he won the 5k in 14:14 and doubled back to run 8:49 in the 2-mile.
In XC last fall he was very good: 4th at NXN (4 seconds behind Jackson Spencer) and 2nd at Brooks (0.2 behind Spencer).
From 9th-11th grade, boys are still going through puberty and receiving natural increases in testosterone. Some 7th-9th grade running standouts come back to the pack, and some are destined to be professional level runners. My guess is Mantecon is only guilty of falling into the latter camp, and he’s been able to race these quads because he’s in something like 8:30 shape.
These are definitely important to note. Dominating with 2 more gears than the other kids. I think in totality these indicate the fitness to go pretty high on the all-time U.S. high school lists already.
This kid has been a prodigy since middle school, but this weekend he broke out in a big way. We’ll be talking about him for a long time, I think.
The DMR split meanwhile was a difficult positive split 57.9/59.8/63.2/62.5 for that 4:04.73.
Those other three races—in each, he has a massive gear shift at about 400-350 to go, just. a huge surge to take the lead, and then has the strength to go again if another super talent like Hassan sticks on him. 13:30, 8:30, 3:56, 1:47.5 all within reach and I wonder what type of altitude training he does and if he responds... NAU would be excellent
Pacers? In mile races billed as CHAMPIONSHIP races at both NIKE and NBIN...thoughts on that? My view is that by trying to manufacture sub 4 times, you have pacers, actually in both that ran past the 2:20's mark, so, if you cannot get out in 2:01? You are completely disconnected, I think if they are billed as Championship races, runners kind of have to figure that stuff out for themselves. NC's Nat, USATF, they don't have no stinkin' pacers..LOL..thoughts, and how long have they been doing that, do you know what mile lists would have looked like from years ago? With pacers?
The 1600 and 3200 were 10s slower than this week. That makes it doable. And I sort of think he should be a 13:40/8:40 in the right time trial. It still seems like a crazy hard day to do anywhere but a championship meet