Why aren't more people talking about Verzbicas?

Why aren't more people talking about Verzbicas?

Becuase he's a half-steppin son of a bitch!

Elitist runner prejudice. If he was a sophomore who didn't know what a "tri" was, he would be the new god of high school running.

I tried to talk about him but pulled a tongue muscle trying to say his name

The Lithuanian calendar is unusual among Western countries in that neither the names of the months nor the names of the weekdays are derived from Greek or Norse mythology. They were formalized after Lithuania regained independence in 1918, based on historic names, and celebrate natural phenomena; three months are named for birds, two for trees, and the remainder for seasonal activities and features. The days of the week are simply ordinal numbers.

The standardization of month names was made difficult by the fact that publication in the Lithuanian language was illegal from 1864 to 1904 (see Lithuanian press ban) and some drift in the usages occurred.

Intergalactic wrote:

Yeah, yeah, he's a little old a freshman, but so what? I'd by psyched about this guy if he were a JUNIOR. He just ran 14:18 indoors. National record. 8:57 indoors, national champ. And he's a freshman. He broke the freshman indoor record in the two mile by 19 seconds. That's like, Gerry Lindgren type stuff. And he doesn't even considering running his main sport yet (PLEEEEASE reconsider that, Lukas!).

Well here's a 10-spot for you:

1) Age in question

2) Not USA born (I don't have a problem, but it's not helping him)

3) Doesn't have a true passion for the sport (no outdoors)

4) Interested in Tri's (a. A turn-off for letsrun, b. a slight of sorts towards the running [only] community)

5) Haile has already created enough controversy this year with age/legitimacy issues

6) He's in HS...

7) Did I mention he's set on Tri's and isn't some Hasay-esque phenom for the future of AMERICAN T&F (he'd fly with Lithuania I assume)

8) He doesn't have a great story and/or passion for the future (a la Lopez Lomong)

9) Indoors just doesn't carry a lot of weight at the HS level (irregardless of a smokin' 14:18)

10) The last name is just a lot. Dunbar (for example) just rolls of the old tongue...

Brilliant!

FYI, hes running the Shamrock Shuffle 8k in Chicago on March 29th. His 14:18 converts to about a 23:34 8k according to the Mcmillan race pace calculator. Taking into consideration he was indoors and ran by himself, he may very well be able to run considerably faster. Last years winning time was 23:09. Imagine the additional buzz that will be generated if he manages to pull off a win at a pretty major road race.

His time is very impressive. But a little perspective is in order.

1) He is old enough to be a junior.

2) His 14:17 is worth about 8:55 for 2 miles. Very good time, but let's face it, 8:55 would put him about 100th on the all time HS 2 mile combined indoor/outdoor list.

3) His time is 35 seconds behind what Lingren ran out doors when he was 17 back in 1964. He would have been nearly laped by Lindgren on an indoor track.

There are some good points but he's not "old enough to be a junior" any more than a 13 year-old is old enough to be a junior. He should be a soph, but he's a frosh.

Good points on the indoors, not born in US, not pumped about the future of American running, triathlon stuff.

He went through 3000m in 8:31. And even if 8:55 for 2 Miles would be #100 on the all-time list, where would it be on the sophomore list?

He also ran the 5k with zero competition lapping people the whole time. I also have no idea what sort of training background he has (though I would guess that it's involved a lot of swimming and biking, so a great aerobic base but likely not a ton of running)

Because he's not an American and we have a few good kids only 3 years older running almost a minute quicker in the 5K!

We already have a savior. And his name is Andrew Wheating.

I was 17 for the first two months that i was in college... Yes, he is old enough to be a junior.

fresh or not the kid is obviously talented and running is not even his first sport. If you can't see a future track phenom please take off your shades and see the light.

asdfds wrote:

I was 17 for the first two months that i was in college... Yes, he is old enough to be a junior.

He would be a year younger than most of his peers. Most of us were eligible for our license (16 years old) by the end of our sophomore year. It's already been pointed out that Ryan Hall was 18 when he won his last CA State XC title.

Lukas may have enough people to run with next week at the Shuffle 8K. The Top 100 field looks to have at least 30 sub 25:00s based off the confirmation site. Hansons, Big River, Playmakers, WI Runner all will be there. Type in Top for the Start area and all the names post

it's simple. most sophs turn 16 in the spring term. he's sophomore age. and we have three guys who are only TWO YEARS older running half a minute to (probably) a minute faster at the distance. but this is a grade one blue chip prospect who'd probably challenge the soph 2M outdoor record this season and who I have no doubt will break a lot of records in the next few years. The pedigree may cast some doubt on this eventually, but I hope not.

To Bill Brasky wrote:

9) Indoors just doesn't carry a lot of weight at the HS level (irregardless of a smokin' 14:18)

REGARDLESS.