Lukas speaks

" Also, I already lost weight having come back; I was affected by the freshman 15 in Oregon… "

What was he doing where he gained wight during the XC season?

If your running 80 - 90 MPW it must take a weak will power to put on unwanted pounds. College men who put in the training, do not gain weight during their first semester.

This guy is not only not a team guy, he's not a serious athlete.

Okay, let's be real: Lukas was not failing out of school. Nor was he paying to go to college. He was attending the University of Oregon as one of the best high school runners ever. Your last point is a valid one, though. Perhaps he was looking for more structure. That being said, I do not think he should complain about getting "spit on." It's his own fault for abandoning UO right before regionals. He should've waited out the xc season. Therefore, My respect for him is at an all time low.

This is telling,

"Lukas: My family was actually trying to keep me in Oregon. They kept in real good contact with the coaches, letting them know everything there is to know about my training and me and just tried to overall help them get to know me in all ways so that I keep improving. This decision came out fully from me; only in the final stages did my family say that the doors are open for me here to become a successful triathlete."

"College men who put in the training, do not gain weight during their first semester."

You'd be surprised. He was probably staying up late, which led him to eat more. Dining hall might not have had the best options. Seems to me like the kid still needs his parents telling him what to do, which is the case of most 18 year olds.

He just wanted to get an ironman tattoo and go on to slowtwitch to brag about it.

LP!!! wrote:

This guy is not only not a team guy, he's not a serious athlete.

Agree with the team aspect, not being a serious athlete is laughable though.

If he was serious he'd be getting his 8 hours of sleep.

Uh oh.... someone pissed off Don. Better look up what spurious means.

yoder-begley fan wrote:

Seems to me like the kid still needs his parents telling him what to do, which is the case of most 18 year olds.

And it seems like he'll need his parents telling him what to do for the next 20 years of his life, as he transitions into being a pro triathlete.

Has anyone thought that maybe lukas and the team decided that if he knew that his heart wasn't in it and he was going to leave, it would be better to let someone else on the team have the opportunity to run regionals? They're weren't going to win any titles, so why not give someone else who is going to be a part of the team long term the experience of being in a big race.

Makes Me Sick To My Stomach wrote:

"Exactly! Why in the hell should my tax money (and citizens of Colorado) go to pay for this slim balls cush training? Why don't we just move the whole damn Kenyan team over here right now and pay for everything -meals, housing, tuition, facility use, trainers and therapists and comprehensive medical coverage!

For what it's worth, no tax money goes to the Training Center or the USOC. I believe we are one of the only, if not the only country in the world without a government funded Olympic program. I think it's a big misconception that the whole US program is tax funded, which I used to think myself as well as the many tourists who visit. I'm an athlete at the training center and boy do I wish we had some tax funding as outside of training most of us get nothing. Most of the money comes from corporate dontations and as a result there are often executives and employees here from those major donors playing "Olympian for the day".

susqurun wrote:

Okay, let's be real: Lukas was not failing out of school...

susqurun, I think that academic failure is the only thing that explains LV's timing. He left right before the cut-off date for dropping classes without failing them. Why do you think that he was not failing?

WAT?! That's a peculiar post. Venegas was real chummy with every foreign student-athlete at UCLA when I was there; they obeyed coaches, were real team players, and Coach Venegas never seemed to make any distinction based on country of birth.

This is it wrote:

Captain Tenneal wrote:

x0

=0

You both lose.

apparently your math skills are as lacking as your critical thinking skills.

a post = 1.

1x10000 = 10000

Go fail elsewhere, troglodyte.

It was a joke.

Do you know what a joke it?

nsfts wrote:

susqurun wrote:

Okay, let's be real: Lukas was not failing out of school...

susqurun, I think that academic failure is the only thing that explains LV's timing. He left right before the cut-off date for dropping classes without failing them. Why do you think that he was not failing?

If true, this, or something related, is the most likely argument to explain the strange timing of his departure. Which sort of makes all of the other bickering rather moot.

Lukas V. = Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), both are quitters and selfish athletes.

Dull and Bored wrote:

He had no obligation to his team whatsoever, nor does anyone else on ANY team.

Spoken like another horrible teammate. If you care about your team, you DO have an obligation.

Lukas should have redshirted Cross, taken a break after the World Championships, and trained with the team/get ready for Indoor. He could have won an indoor NCAA title. Centrowitz skipped Cross to take a break after his Worlds, Lukas should have too.

wouldn't you have to be half retarded to become academically ineligible at Oregon?