What will Lukas Verzbikas (LV) run as a freshman in college?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahhhhahhahhhahahhaahahahahahahaaaaaahahahhahahhhahahahhahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! way faster than that turkey nuts.

I guess its too late for LV to try for Ed Eyestone's NCCA triple crown...XC champ, 5k and 10k in one season.

Must be able to run faster than Webb - who should have gone to Oregon like real runners do - so I would say sub- 3.35 as a freshman, and under 13.00 as well. Anything less will be a huge disappointment and be sacrificing the gift. Pre will haunt him in Eugene unless/until be breaks all the records that are available to him in the first year, and these must be done solo (no rabbits). If he doesn't medal at the Olympics in the 5000m (Pre was 4th, the loser) next year then all hell will break loose and the earth will cease to exist.

Top 5 in cross country, 7:48 indoor 3000, 13:22 5000, 3:38 1500.

13:29 sounds pretty feasible. So far he's proven that he can string 4:30s by himself without too much struggle in a 5000, and that's with lapping a bunch of guys and moving out into lane 2. I can see him going under 13:30 if he plays his cards right.

I'm not really sure what I can say in regards to cross country; I know he definitely has more strength than he does speed, but we've never really seen him run over 5000 (correct me if I'm wrong). It will be interesting to see how he runs come cross season.

He did get 23:55 in the 8k Shamrock Shuffle if you're counting road races.

personally i feel like next year he wont do much, and maybe even the year after. look at galen, didnt start dominating until junior and senior years. that said, lukas isnt galen, and he is much better than him at this point. but i think the next year or two will be adjustment years and he'll probably do well but he wont be making any huge records or wins. he'll definitely improve but we wont see any big things until he fully adjusts to lannana's training and transitions into the college lifestyle (in regards to lannanas training, thats assuming he isnt able to continue his regular training that he's been doing for the past few year's)

we also need to factor in that he probably wont have much, if any, of a XC season because junior worlds for the triathlon are right during cross and he's already said he's competing in them. and after that, if lannana lets lukas incorporate the tri training into lukas's own training at oregon we probably wont see much of anything from him because, again, he'll have to adjust running full time. he's already got a huge aerobic base but thats from tri stuff, if he switches to full time running next year i think he'll be injured for a bit of his first year (he's already had a stress fracture and since then he's needed ankle taping) so it wouldnt surprise me if that happens.

but then again, lukas is a huuuge talent so him doing well in cross (if he has any season next year, but definitely his soph year) wouldnt surprise me.

im not sure either way about lukas but I will say, lukas really isnt that much better than Galen was at this point. Remember Galen ran a 13:37 5k his senior year of hs, pretty impressive.

I would expect only small improvements. He had excellent coaches throughout high school (his parents) so he is very well-trained. He might run under 3:40, top 20 in XC, under 7:50 in the 3000, and under 13:40 or so in the 5K. That would be an excellent start to his college career. His best chance to win or place in an event is probably the indoor 3000 at this point, I think the 5K is going to take a little time.

I think he can be top 15 in cross if he has time to train, 13:25-30 in the 5000. As a sophomore he will be much better.

u guys saying 13:20 are crazy. 13:40 would be phenomenal for LV as a freshman, 13:20 isn't gonna happen.

also, i very much doubt he will be in the 3:35 range. i expect him to peak around 3:38-3:40 next year with a good shot a making it to the 1500 final.

ture, galen did have a better 5k pr, but lukas has shown tremendous strength with not only his tis triple, but also the footlocker and nxc nats wins. he's also got a better 2 mile time and mile time, as well as his 5k having been indoors, around lapped runners and solo, not to mention it was before his 2 mile and mile

cfdvfvgbgfr wrote:

u guys saying 13:20 are crazy. 13:40 would be phenomenal for LV as a freshman, 13:20 isn't gonna happen.

also, i very much doubt he will be in the 3:35 range. i expect him to peak around 3:38-3:40 next year with a good shot a making it to the 1500 final.

He could run 13:40s right now I would bet. I would also be willing to bet he doesn't run the 1500 in college as much as he runs 3k-10k.

Even though LV is almost a year older than German was, he should go after the Fernandez freshman marks of 3:55.02, 7:47.97 and 13:25.43...plus a National title (GF won the outdoor 1500).

I expect LV will run right around all three marks.

8:29 = 13:30 (and 3:57), and LV hasn't run in Europe yet. He's a cut above.

umm wrote:

im not sure either way about lukas but I will say, lukas really isnt that much better than Galen was at this point. Remember Galen ran a 13:37 5k his senior year of hs, pretty impressive.

At least LV has the opportunity to improve markedly because he will be in the best middle distance program in the country and will be running in a t&f paradise in Eugene. How can he not improve by leaps and bounds when he'll be training with Mac Fleet, Centrowitz, Gedyon, Puskedra, Greer, and probably some of the OTC Elites (Wheating and Russell Brown come to mind).

He'll run well because he is at least 2-3 years older than most of his competitors. Just like the Kenyan at Bible Thumping U.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say not insanely faster than he currently is. You guys have to remember that he's been competing for 10+ years now where most HS athletes only have 5-6 under their belt.

I'd be surprised if he goes faster than 3:40, 13:35, and 28:30 (track). I'd also be surprised if he's higher than 10th in XC with so many returners. Being good at the HS level is completely different than being good at the college level.

Another thing I forgot. LV doesn't really know how to race (yet). He's been head and shoulders above his competition since he was a freshman. He may have lost a few races here and there, but in general he has dominated.

Races at the HS level rarely are tactical. Knowing the IL track state meets, guys either run PRs or near PRs during both prelims and finals (except those who can make it through prelims in the distance races by the win.) You don't see the mile at State or NBN/NON whatever its called go out in 67/2:15 for the lead pack and have guys run 1:54 the last 800, yet that becomes common at championship races in college.